STORIES FROM FIREFLY ISLAND

Tortoise, oldest and wisest of the animal inhabitants of an imaginary island, tells an assortment of ten pourquoi stories (why frogs croak at night), trickster stories (how the bully Wild Pig was humbled), and moral tales (how Badger, once a hero, became a tyrant). All the human traits of courage, cleverness, mistrust, amorality, shyness, shame, and pride are displayed by the characters in these fables, which read smoothly aloud and never overstate their little lessons about cooperation, forgiveness, and carrying on despite misfortune. Dozens of intricately detailed b&w drawings are scattered throughout. (Fiction. 5-10)