Authorpreneur Dashboard – Vincent A Mastro
The Tortoise and the Hare
Children's Books
The Tortoise and the Hare is an Aesop’s fable about perseverance and boasting. It is told from the perspective of a child observing the world and learning from it. In this truly unique series, Aesop is that child. He comes to life as an inquisitive, confident young raccoon who goes on a daily adventure and experiences each fable as it unfolds. Aesop's grandmother encourages him to go on these adventures. She wants him to find the answers to his many questions and she eagerly awaits his return. Aesop shares what he has learned with his grandmother who validates his conclusions. One of the most powerful forms of learning occurs through real life experience and self motivation. Learning begins with curiosity and succeeds only with perseverance. Unfortunately, as children grow, their curiosity and freedom of expression wanes. This book endeavors to strengthen a child’s unbounded curiosity so that they feel empowered and never stop asking ‘why’. This fable is from Book 1 of Aesop's Childhood Adventures series. Common core teacher’s guides are available for books 1 & 2.
Book Bubbles from The Tortoise and the Hare
Life Lessons
This simple interchange between a grandmother and grandchild is a powerful method for teaching the moral of each fable. As a parent, wanting to teach my children the life lessons found in Aesop's Fables, I was frustrated by the way the stories were told. They were simply inaccessible to my children. Some were stark and frightening, others were boring, some were too cutesy and none were able to seamlessly weave the moral into the story. Declaring the moral at the beginning or end of the story simply did not work for my children. It required them to make an extraordinary conceptual leap from the general statement to the specific details of the story. Something most young children can’t do. Instead, the fables in Aesop’s Childhood Adventures series introduce the reader to Aesop, a little raccoon boy in the 'why' stage of life. Each story begins with Aesop’s grandmother encouraging him to go out and find the answers to his many questions. Upon his return she asks if he found the answer to his question and he replies with a "No". However, he does tell her what he did learn that day i.e. the moral or life lesson of that fable.
