Creighton University

I include this book because it helps complete a series containing fable books.  This story depends on the repeated question "Who will help me?"  The dog, cat, and duck who did no help get none of the bread in the end.

Left-hand pages offer text and right-hand pages full-page illustrations.  This version of the story features an elephant as emperor.   The imposters' claim is credible here: "Only wise people will see this fabric.  It will be invisible to fools."  In this version, the wife is the first to be allowed to see the "fabric."  The elephant is clothed in his underwear as he receives the suit that is so sheer that, as the imposters told him, it feels as though he is wearing nothing at all.  The boy cries out that the emperor is wearing nothing but his underwear.  In this version, the emperor rushes home to put on simple clothes.  He also makes the boy his junior minister.  The final page warns that telling people the truth "can keep people from making mistakes."

I include this book because it helps complete a series containing fable books.  "Today's ugly duckling can be tomorrow's beautiful swan."

The subtitle is surprising since "The Emperor's New Clothes" was also called "A Tale of Honesty."  "While he was happy most days just to do his job, some days he wished that something exciting would happen."  He had never seen a wolf and wondered even if there were any wolves at all.  He even tried to play soccer with the sheep!  On the occasion of his first call, the townsfolk came and could find neither a wolf nor the shepherd.  When they found him, he was laughing at them.  The third cry was for real, and the villagers refused to come again.  The wolf made off with all the sheep.  The boy went back to his usual place to cry and to reflect.  "He paid a big price for a small joke."

I include this book because it helps complete a series containing fable books.  Percy and Amelia are twins.  Here they are pictured as bear cubs.  Percy loves flying his kite, and Amelia loves bird-watching with her binoculars.  As they approach their birthday, each knows what to give the other, but neither has the money.  Amelia buys Percy a new tail for his kite, but she has to sell her binoculars to do it.  Percy buys Amelia a case for her binoculars, but needs to sell his kite to do it.  When they open gifts, they laugh, have a picnic, and declare that this has been the best of birthdays.

I include this book because it helps complete a series containing fable books.  In this anecdote, a rich but miserly old knight has kept one horse from his glory days but progressively starves the horse and then turns him out.  In the meantime, the people of Atri keep a bell to be rung whenever someone experiences an injustice.  The bell's rope had withered away and had been extended temporarily with a fresh vine.  Sure enough, the horse happens into town, sees the leaves on the vine, eats the lower leaves, and pulls on the vine to reach the upper leaves.  As the bell rings, the people of Atri gather and determine that the knight needs to offer the horse food and lodging for the rest of his life.  "It feels good to be responsible!"

I include this book because it helps complete a series containing fable books.  In this development of the Johnny Appleseed legend, a seed dropped by Johnny watches over the decades as civilization develops and even encroaches on the tree's life.  The event of a neighborhood boy falling asleep in the tree occasions a decision to move it to a park, and the park invites people to play and picnic.  That boy, grown to be a man, reminds busy people that every living thing needs love.  "Take time to plant a tree or feed the birds with a friend.  It's an act of love that everyone will appreciate!"

I include this book because it helps complete a series containing fable books.  In this development of the Midas legend, Midas is approached by a surprise visitor who offers him the gift of transforming whatever he touches into gold.  This visitor is pictured as a grasshopper, and Midas and his beloved daughter Marygold are pictured as something like hedgehogs.  The next morning Midas delightedly turns object after object into gold, even the roses loved by Marygold.  She comes to him upset over a golden rose.  When Midas tries to comfort her with a hug, she too is turned into gold.  Midas encounters the same spirit and admits to having learned his lesson.  He follows instructions to get water from the river and sprinkle it onto all that has been transformed, and these things then revert to their former state.  Once Marygold is transformed back, Midas loses his preoccupation with counting his money and learns to enjoy the great outdoors.  "A wise person knows that money or gold can't buy happiness and that simple things can be the best."

Each pair of pages presents one full page of text and one of colored illustration.  The picture of the cow maid holding her mop at the farmhouse's half-door is too good to miss!  This cook/traveler proclaims from the start that his stone has magic qualities.  All the characters in this story are animals.  The cook/traveler is a dog.  He picked up this smooth, oval stone because he had tripped over it on his way into town.  "You never know when a stone like this might come in handy."  The hungry traveler has already given up on the city, where no one is outdoors talking or playing, when he takes out the stone and has a "brilliant idea."  The stone soup dinner turns into a party, with people discovering each other's musical talents.  As the traveler moves on, he leaves the magic stone with the townsfolk -- and finds another as he goes on his way.  "Cooperation can make difficult things easy, and it can also be lots of fun."

Each pair of pages presents one full page of text and one of colored illustration.  This mouse, eyeing some berries, mistakes the sleeping lion's head for a rock.  The awakening occasions a chase.  As soon as the lion frees the mouse, he smells food and moves toward it – into a trap.  The hunters are approaching just as the mouse frees the lion.  The lion then carries the mouse back on his head to the place where the story started, so that the mouse can pick the berries she wanted.  The lion then lifts her down from his head in a lovely gesture that the booklet puts on its cover.  "They've been friends ever since."

I include this book because it helps complete a series containing fable books.  According to this legend, Hans is returning home from visiting Mr. Van Notten as fast as his wooden shoes can take him.  The trip is harder because a cold storm is raging, as the cover illustration shows.  As he nears town, he sees a breach in the dike.  He runs through town to warn people, but all the houses are closed up against the storm.  He puts his fist into the hole and stays there through the cold night.  Mr. Van Notten discovers him in the morning and gets help from the town.  The mayor gives Hans a medal.  He is the boy who held back the sea.  "Perseverance means sticking with something even when it gets difficult.  It helps us through hard times and leads us to great accomplishments."