Product Description

Bruh Rabbit may indeed have met his match when he comes across a tar baby in the middle of the road. The baby's deaf, dumb and blind attitude infuriates the plucky trickster, just as Wolf planned! When Bruh Rabbit gets entangled in the tar baby's sticky embrace, has he finally been foiled by his long-time enemy? Certainly not, if Wolf falls for Bruh Rabbit's clever reverse-psychology and flings the wily rabbit into the briar patch! Spun in Virginia Hamilton's unique vernacular, this will be a delight to those familiar with Bruh Rabbit's games, and a unforgettable introduction for newcomers!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #707081 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 40 pages

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 4-Hamilton's masterful retelling of the tar baby story brings Bruh Rabbit to Bruh Wolf's well-tended garden, where he just helps himself to the corn and peanuts. A "scarey-crow" doesn't frighten Bruh Rabbit at all, so Bruh Wolf puts up a tar baby girl, "standing black in the moonshine." Bruh Rabbit is perplexed. "This seems like a little girl. I best study upon this here." By the time he's done studying upon that silent girl, he's completely stuck. Bruh Wolf is ready to eat him, but Bruh Rabbit pleads, "- I beg you.- You may roast me and toast me; you may cut me up and eat me. But whatever you do, don't throw me in the briar bush!" Readers familiar with or new to the story will relish the rabbit's sneaky escape. Retold in Gullah, Hamilton's narrative is meticulously paced, lyrical, hilarious, and a joy to read aloud. Ransome's lush watercolors suit the story perfectly; there are expansive double-page paintings as well as full-page pictures that face a page of framed, large-print text. An endnote describes the story's origins, as well as some of the possibly obscure terms. This lovely example of a folktale in picture-book format will be a welcome addition to any library.
Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
PreS-Gr. 2. As demonstrated in her African American story collections The People Could Fly (1985) and Her Stories (1995), the late Hamilton's research into history and folklore has always been rigorous, but she has never allowed it to get in the way of her telling. In this version of the beloved Tar Baby trickster story, she drew on Gullah folklore from the Sea Islands of South Carolina. Her rhythmic, immediate version is well matched by Ransome's paintings, both cozy and exciting, which extend the fun with beautiful farmland scenes at "dayclean" (dawn) and "daylean" (evening) picturing the wily rabbit thief in human clothes repeatedly outwitting the wolf. The hilarious climax of the story is unforgettable as Rabbit first talks to Tar Baby ("'Girl, why won't you speak to me? What you doing out here?'"), then sticks to her, each part of his body in turn. Although things look bleak, Rabbit still wins in the end, and Hamilton's source note, which points to Bruh Rabbit as a favorite character among African American slave storytellers, who always seemed helpless but was traditionally really tricky and clever. A perfect choice for reading aloud. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
Hamilton posthumously revives this archtypal Brer Rabbit tale with a Gullah-inflected rendition... -- Kirkus Reviews, September 15th, 2003

Customer Reviews

Beautiful Book
The illustrations in this book are beautiful. It is a wonderful tale for Brer Rabbit fans. My second grader read it on her own. A bonus: there is an AR test for it!

cute story
This book is an interesting twist on an old story. Bruh Rabbit gets into Bruh Wolf's well-tended garden and eats his corn and peanuts. Bruh Wolf makes a "scarey-crow' in hopes that will keep Bruh Rabbit out. Bruh Rabbit comes back still. The next step Bruh Wolf takes is to make a tar baby girl. When Bruh Rabbit see the tar baby girl he gets mad because it will not speak to him. He ends up hitting her, kicking her and trying to bite her. Of course he gets stuck to the tar baby girl in the process! Bruh Wolf comes alos ang tries to get him. Bruh Rabbit tricks himself out of the situation by begging not to be thrown into the briar patch. Bruh Wolf falls for the trick and throws him in but Rabbit really loves it there! Fooled again!

It has extraordinary illustrations that would captivate the attention of any child, even ones with short attention spans.

I would recommed this book for kids ages 5-8. They will enjoy the story read aloud or to read silently to themselves