THE RACE

In Repchuk’s clever, if clumsily rhymed and paced, remake of this oddly popular fable (Margery Cuyler’s Roadsigns: A Hare-y Race with a Tortoise, 2000; Lucy Floyd’s Rabbit and Turtle Go To School, 2000; Helen Ward’s Hare and the Tortoise, 1999; etc.), Tortoise and Hare race from England to New York City—the long way ’round. Tortoise saunters aboard an ocean liner; Hare roars off in a zippy red sports car. As Tortoise enjoys cocktails and leisurely stopovers, Hare runs into a series of misadventures—“Hare shot down the raging river. / That poor old bunny was all aquiver. / He sped past snatching claws—and jaws!— / then hauled himself up with tired paws”—arriving at the finish to find Tortoise there ahead of him. “Poor Hare, he was sadly deflated. / It turned out that speed was overrated. . . .” Though the race’s result is the same, there’s a certain reversal of character here that makes for a refreshing change—and young viewers may enjoy picking out from Jay’s crackle-finished scenes the famous landmarks the harried Hare passes on his disaster-strewn journey. (Picture book. 6-8)