The Tortoise and the Hare with a southwestern flair. Tortoise, living comfortably in her home on Slow Lane, awakens one morning feeling good and challenges cocky Jackrabbit to a race. Patiently bumping her way through the desert landscape, Tortoise heads for the finish line as Jackrabbit cheerfully skips—and sleeps. Roadrunner, Tarantula, Gila Monster and even a Javelina or three cheer them on. Irresistible fun for the young and old alike. Kindergarten-Grade 3?Lowell gives the familiar fable the same Southwestern spin she gave "The Three Little Pigs" in The Three Little Javelinas (Northland, 1992). Tortoise challenges Jackrabbit to a race across the desert; they pass saguaro cacti and mesquite trees, purple sand verbena and desert dandelions, and encounter creatures such as Elf Owl, Scorpion, Tarantula, and Javelina. The spare text is lively and begs to be read aloud. Pronunciation is given in parentheses after unfamiliar words, and while this is helpful, the placement is a little distracting. A note about endangered wildlife of the desert is appended. Harris's acrylic-and-watercolor paintings, reminiscent of Wallace Tripp's work, are full of humor and energy. Tortoise is a staid, elderly female with a hat, gloves, reticule, and lace-edged anklets. Jackrabbit sports green suspenders over a red plaid shirt that covers a slight paunch. The artist uses a range of muted colors that evokes the dry beauty of the area. Even libraries that already own collections of Aesop's fables or Janet Stevens's The Tortoise and the Hare (Holiday, 1984) will want to consider this version for its sprightly, fresh approach.?Donna L. Scanlon, Lancaster County Library, PA Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. Ages 3-7. The well-known fable of the tortoise and the hare is fetchingly told in this jovial collaboration by Lowell and Harris. Here, Tortoise is an aged granny decked out in flower-brimmed hat, lace-trimmed anklets, and white gloves. Hare sports a bandanna and a feather in his hat along with his cocky, sure-to-win attitude. The spectators represent many other native desert critters humorously dressed in western attire. As the competitors advance on the course, indigenous plants and lesser-known animals are inconspicuously identified. While Tortoise slowly, appreciatively, and deservedly munches her championship bouquet of spring flowers, the author seizes the opportunity to apply this well-known tale to contemporary concerns about the destruction of desert habitat. If the wild desert is preserved, Lowell concludes, "we will all be winners." Ellen Mandel The tortoise here is a bespectacled, parasol-toting marm. Her cocky rival-a singing ("Long, low, LEAP, ho!") jackrabbit-springs into the air to flaunt his speed. "Tortoise looked patiently up at him with her old, old eyes. Let's race, ' she said." A jumble of directional signs tucked under his wing, Roadrunner marks the course through a desert filled with the appropriate flora and fauna. Indeed, with repeated readings, the safari-style ecological subtext may overtake the amusement of the race itself. Precise and punchy, Lowell's undated prose turns hip alongside Harris's comical characterizations. The race ends with an endearing laugh at Tortoise eating her victory bouquet; the book ends with an author's note concerning the current threats to desert creatures. A merry blend of play, allegory and environmentalism. Ages 3-up. -- Publisher Weekly Although she was born in Chihuahua in 1950, Susan Lowell is a fourth-generation Arizonan who now divides her time between Tucson and a cattle ranch on the Mexican border. She was educated in public schools and at Stanford, Harvard, and Princeton Universities, and she has worked as a journalist, a professor, and a freelance writer. As well as many short pieces, she has published nineteen books for adults and children. Her honors include Arizona Author of the Year, OneBook Arizona, a New York Times Notable Book, the Milkweed Editions National Fiction Award, and the George Garrett Fiction Prize.