With a playful buoyancy and minimal words, Caldecott Medalist Jerry Pinkney (The Lion and the Mouse) here tells of another triumphant underdog, this time in the American Southwest.
A dapper hare in a burgundy vest removes a black-and-white checked kerchief to serve as the flag indicating the start and finish lines. (In a clever touch, the final image shows the hare fastening that same scarf around the tortoise's neck, like a good sport.) "On your marks," says the fox, holding the flag. With the word "Go!" the hind legs of the hare disappear off the right-hand side of the double-page spread, as the tortoise, sporting a red kerchief and blue engineer's cap, creeps forward at the left. Butterflies and flowers dot the landscape as the hare stops in a lettuce patch, and the tortoise soldiers on; one wondrous illustration depicts the reptile in a blow-by-blow tumble down a rocky ledge. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness