The Tale of Rabbit and Coyote/El cuento del conejo y el coyote

Book Review:

Rabbit decides to eat some of the farmer's chiles. In the morning when the farmer discovers his chiles are gone, he makes a beeswax doll to keep Rabbit out of the field. He catches Rabbit and is preparing to cook him for dinner when Coyote shows up and is tricked into trading places with Rabbit. Coyote becomes very angry and tracks down Rabbit to eat him up. Rabbit continues to outwit Coyote which allows Rabbit to escape. Rabbit climbs to the moon where Coyote cannot catch him. Coyote is still angry with Rabbit so he sits, waits, and howls at the moon.

The Tale of Rabbit and Coyote by Tony Johnston with illustrations by Tomie dePaola is derived from the town of Oaxaca, Mexico. It is a great combination of some popular traditional stories such as: "Brer Rabbit," the story of Coyote swallowing the moon, and the rabbit in the moon. In Mexican culture, people believe there is a rabbit in the moon. This differs from the American belief of a man in the moon. This book is also available in Spanish.

The illustrations in this book are very colorful and festive, which also emphasizes the Mexican culture. The reader can experience the desert setting of the story through the pages of purple and blue mountains and saguaro cacti. Almost every page in the book has a Spanish expression such as: "¡Conejo malvado!" (Wicked Rabbit), and "¡Qué persona tan pegajosa!" (What a sticky person). There is also a glossary in the back that translates these expressions.

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