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Brer Rabbit
Thirty-one tales, retold in modern English, of the crafty, idle, mischief-making rabbit and his wily old acquaintances Brer Fox and Brer Wolf.
64 pages, Hardcover
First published April 29, 1993
About the author
Joel Chandler Harris
560 books42 followersJoel Chandler Harris was an American journalist born in Eatonton, Georgia who wrote the Uncle Remus stories, including Uncle Remus; His Songs and His Sayings, The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation, (1880), Nights with Uncle Remus (1881 & 1882), Uncle Remus and His Friends (1892), and Uncle Remus and the Little Boy (1905).
The stories, based on the African-American oral storytelling tradition, were revolutionary in their use of dialect and in featuring a trickster hero called Br'er ("Brother") Rabbit, who uses his wits against adversity, though his efforts do not always succeed. The frog is the trickster character in traditional tales in Central and Southern Africa. The stories, which began appearing in the Atlanta Constitution in 1879, were popular among both Black and White readers in the North and South, not least because they presented an idealized view of race relations soon after the Civil War. The first published Brer Rabbit stories were written by President Theodore Roosevelt's uncle, Robert Roosevelt.
The stories, based on the African-American oral storytelling tradition, were revolutionary in their use of dialect and in featuring a trickster hero called Br'er ("Brother") Rabbit, who uses his wits against adversity, though his efforts do not always succeed. The frog is the trickster character in traditional tales in Central and Southern Africa. The stories, which began appearing in the Atlanta Constitution in 1879, were popular among both Black and White readers in the North and South, not least because they presented an idealized view of race relations soon after the Civil War. The first published Brer Rabbit stories were written by President Theodore Roosevelt's uncle, Robert Roosevelt.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 1, 2022
Well that was a surprise.
I remember loving these stories when I was a child, and have fond memories of my father reading them to me at bedtime. But I became increasingly uneasy as I read through most of these 22 tales. Brer Rabbit was a trickster, yes, but he was far from the mischievous impish, lovable rogue of my memory. This Brer Rabbit was conniving and mean-spirited. He revelled in inventing devious plots to make his enemies look ridiculous - and even worse - manipulated his friends. Of course his natural enemies were Brer Fox, Brer Wolf and Brer Bear ... but in these stories, Brer Rabbit seemed to take a positive delight in deception; pretending to be their friend, and then craftily manipulating circumstances. Brer Fox, Brer Wolf or Brer Bear would without fail be left in a humiliating situation, needing to be rescued. These did not seem to be simple stories of courage or survival. Something else was encoded here. What was the story behind Joel Chandler Harris?
A little research showed me that Joel Chandler Harris collected many of these stories at the end of the 19th century. Brer Rabbit did indeed represent a trickster figure, which had originated in African folklore. When the stories were transmitted by African slaves to the New World, they there acquired additional attributes of similar native American tricksters, and a new character was born. Joel Chandler Harris fleshed him out into Brer, or Brother, Rabbit, and in retelling many of his adventures, he gave them a potent and contemporary significant message. Brer Rabbit embodies the idea which is universal among oppressed peoples—that a small, weak, but intelligent and clever force can overcome a larger, stronger, but dull-witted one. Hence, Brer Rabbit always outsmarts his natural enemies, Brer Fox, Brer Wolf, and Brer Bear.
A worthy message indeed. Perhaps there are better retellings of these stories - or perhaps this is a case of needing to look at the original stories. I originally added a star for the skilled way in which Phyllis Briggs kept the original vernacular within the speech of the animals, whilst retelling the main text of the story in standard English. She also conveyed a sense of the plantation in Georgia, where the stories are set. But I swiftly removed the star for the horribly mismatched illustrations.
These are twee animal pictures by E.H. Davie; simple line drawings with block colours in either red, orange, blue or green. In another book they would be delightful, and indeed, I have seen this illustrator's work in a more appropriate context. But here, the openfaced rabbit in the pictures just does not represent the character we are reading about. He is not this fresh-faced innocent, this lovable little scamp who is "just playing" and doesn't mean any harm. So does he work as an anti-hero, then? Not for me.
No, this Brer Rabbit is a spiteful mean character, who most certainly does mean harm, and is out for his own ends. Even appreciating the context in which they were written, one would need to be very careful in telling them to any youngsters today, without a little explanation.
I was pleased to find this old, large-format book from the 1950's, but will not be keeping it, and will continue to search for a better version for my own enjoyment.
I remember loving these stories when I was a child, and have fond memories of my father reading them to me at bedtime. But I became increasingly uneasy as I read through most of these 22 tales. Brer Rabbit was a trickster, yes, but he was far from the mischievous impish, lovable rogue of my memory. This Brer Rabbit was conniving and mean-spirited. He revelled in inventing devious plots to make his enemies look ridiculous - and even worse - manipulated his friends. Of course his natural enemies were Brer Fox, Brer Wolf and Brer Bear ... but in these stories, Brer Rabbit seemed to take a positive delight in deception; pretending to be their friend, and then craftily manipulating circumstances. Brer Fox, Brer Wolf or Brer Bear would without fail be left in a humiliating situation, needing to be rescued. These did not seem to be simple stories of courage or survival. Something else was encoded here. What was the story behind Joel Chandler Harris?
A little research showed me that Joel Chandler Harris collected many of these stories at the end of the 19th century. Brer Rabbit did indeed represent a trickster figure, which had originated in African folklore. When the stories were transmitted by African slaves to the New World, they there acquired additional attributes of similar native American tricksters, and a new character was born. Joel Chandler Harris fleshed him out into Brer, or Brother, Rabbit, and in retelling many of his adventures, he gave them a potent and contemporary significant message. Brer Rabbit embodies the idea which is universal among oppressed peoples—that a small, weak, but intelligent and clever force can overcome a larger, stronger, but dull-witted one. Hence, Brer Rabbit always outsmarts his natural enemies, Brer Fox, Brer Wolf, and Brer Bear.
A worthy message indeed. Perhaps there are better retellings of these stories - or perhaps this is a case of needing to look at the original stories. I originally added a star for the skilled way in which Phyllis Briggs kept the original vernacular within the speech of the animals, whilst retelling the main text of the story in standard English. She also conveyed a sense of the plantation in Georgia, where the stories are set. But I swiftly removed the star for the horribly mismatched illustrations.
These are twee animal pictures by E.H. Davie; simple line drawings with block colours in either red, orange, blue or green. In another book they would be delightful, and indeed, I have seen this illustrator's work in a more appropriate context. But here, the openfaced rabbit in the pictures just does not represent the character we are reading about. He is not this fresh-faced innocent, this lovable little scamp who is "just playing" and doesn't mean any harm. So does he work as an anti-hero, then? Not for me.
No, this Brer Rabbit is a spiteful mean character, who most certainly does mean harm, and is out for his own ends. Even appreciating the context in which they were written, one would need to be very careful in telling them to any youngsters today, without a little explanation.
I was pleased to find this old, large-format book from the 1950's, but will not be keeping it, and will continue to search for a better version for my own enjoyment.
September 12, 2016
Forget the book for a minute and lets talk about log rides. I am not a thrill seeker. Most theme parks rides are too much for me. I'm a chicken. I am especially afraid of log rides. The first log ride I ever encountered was at Legoland Windsor, and you know what, it's actually not so bad. I would go as far to say it was fun. This made me feel I was equipped to deal with all Log Rides. I was wrong.
Next up Thorpe Park. Thorpe Park has the scariest log ride ever! I honestly thought about jumping out the boat just before it started going up. I have never wanted to get off a ride so badly. It had ruined log rides for me and I started to avoid them.
Fast forward 10 or so years and I'm in Disney World, standing in front of Splash Mountain. This is like the third time I'd been there in a short space of time, and this time I'm feeling confident. I'm going on Splash Mountain, hey it's a Disney ride. Disney makes rides for people like me, fun rides that are not that scary. My sister (also traumatised by Thorpe park) says it's not so bad. I get on and see that it's themed to Brer Rabbit (you see the connection to this story now right?).
Brer Rabbit is not scary, he's made for kids. And it's actually pretty nice floating around on this log and looking at all the Brer Rabbit stuff, couple of short drops, nothing I can't handle. It's actually a really long time before you get to the big one and by this time you are lured into a false sense of security.........
This ride had not resorted my faith in log rides. I was terrified. And I even went on it again, just to check, yeah so never doing that again.
Anyways that was the last time I had encountered Brer Rabbit before picking this up. I have never read this before. This was my little sisters book and I was in Secondary school when she got it so I was at the stage where I would have found kids books very uncool.
Considering the Rabbit is the main character, he's really not every nice! He tricks people, he steals and he's lazy. He basically violates a cow in one story. I was hoping the fox would eat him in the end. But that Rabbit always seems to get one over that Brer fox. I like the U.S southern dialect throughout the book. And I had no idea that these were based on fables told by the slaves working on plantations. I liked the book overall and I think children would love it due to the colourful illustrations and the characters.
Next up Thorpe Park. Thorpe Park has the scariest log ride ever! I honestly thought about jumping out the boat just before it started going up. I have never wanted to get off a ride so badly. It had ruined log rides for me and I started to avoid them.
Fast forward 10 or so years and I'm in Disney World, standing in front of Splash Mountain. This is like the third time I'd been there in a short space of time, and this time I'm feeling confident. I'm going on Splash Mountain, hey it's a Disney ride. Disney makes rides for people like me, fun rides that are not that scary. My sister (also traumatised by Thorpe park) says it's not so bad. I get on and see that it's themed to Brer Rabbit (you see the connection to this story now right?).
Brer Rabbit is not scary, he's made for kids. And it's actually pretty nice floating around on this log and looking at all the Brer Rabbit stuff, couple of short drops, nothing I can't handle. It's actually a really long time before you get to the big one and by this time you are lured into a false sense of security.........
This ride had not resorted my faith in log rides. I was terrified. And I even went on it again, just to check, yeah so never doing that again.
Anyways that was the last time I had encountered Brer Rabbit before picking this up. I have never read this before. This was my little sisters book and I was in Secondary school when she got it so I was at the stage where I would have found kids books very uncool.
Considering the Rabbit is the main character, he's really not every nice! He tricks people, he steals and he's lazy. He basically violates a cow in one story. I was hoping the fox would eat him in the end. But that Rabbit always seems to get one over that Brer fox. I like the U.S southern dialect throughout the book. And I had no idea that these were based on fables told by the slaves working on plantations. I liked the book overall and I think children would love it due to the colourful illustrations and the characters.
Read
March 20, 2020Target Audience: 3-8
Uncle Remus, an old man with a penchant for telling stories, tells the tale of Mr. Man and Brer Rabbit to a boy. Brer Rabbit is a tricky creature who has been stealing greens from Mr. Man’s yard but has been leaving his tracks. Frustrated that his hard work is being stolen, Mr. Man sends his dogs out to follow the tracks and capture Brer Rabbit. But, Mr. Man underestimated Brer Rabbit’s talents for deception and Brer Rabbit cleverly avoids capture. This folktale was a mediocre read. The illustrations were not that appealing because they had an almost blurry effect to them. The illustrations slightly muted colors do not engage the imagination very well. Furthermore, current children exposed to this book might feel a stronger inclination to read or watch the stories of Bugs Bunny which have more humor directed towards children instead of adults.
Uncle Remus, an old man with a penchant for telling stories, tells the tale of Mr. Man and Brer Rabbit to a boy. Brer Rabbit is a tricky creature who has been stealing greens from Mr. Man’s yard but has been leaving his tracks. Frustrated that his hard work is being stolen, Mr. Man sends his dogs out to follow the tracks and capture Brer Rabbit. But, Mr. Man underestimated Brer Rabbit’s talents for deception and Brer Rabbit cleverly avoids capture. This folktale was a mediocre read. The illustrations were not that appealing because they had an almost blurry effect to them. The illustrations slightly muted colors do not engage the imagination very well. Furthermore, current children exposed to this book might feel a stronger inclination to read or watch the stories of Bugs Bunny which have more humor directed towards children instead of adults.
Read
June 8, 2022When I picked up this book it was with the understanding that I would have a different perspective than someone reading it at publication in 1941.
This can be used as an introduction to the Uncle Remus stories if exploring African folktales and their importance during the time of slavery. I cannot make comments on accuracy of retelling of these tales and appropriateness of the Harris books. My view when reading this book was that it could be used as a launching point for further research and discussion.
I won't be rating this book since I feel it would be inappropriate for this material and time of publication.
This can be used as an introduction to the Uncle Remus stories if exploring African folktales and their importance during the time of slavery. I cannot make comments on accuracy of retelling of these tales and appropriateness of the Harris books. My view when reading this book was that it could be used as a launching point for further research and discussion.
I won't be rating this book since I feel it would be inappropriate for this material and time of publication.
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March 29, 2023descritpion: This is one of several Brer Rabbit books in Harris' collection. Each chapter is a new adventure told by Brer Rabbit about his mischievous life wrecking havoc on the other animals in this book. Most of the tales are told to just amuse/entertain but there are also some that carry themes/morals such as friendship and bravery.
why it's meaningful to me: This book was read to me in my parents bed most nights when I was a kid, and while I can't remember most of the stories, i remember the characters. I loved the idea that animals had a secret life of messing with each other and over all having a good time. I have really great memories with my parents centered around this book and it's a book that will always have tremendous value to me.
why it's meaningful to me: This book was read to me in my parents bed most nights when I was a kid, and while I can't remember most of the stories, i remember the characters. I loved the idea that animals had a secret life of messing with each other and over all having a good time. I have really great memories with my parents centered around this book and it's a book that will always have tremendous value to me.
Read
October 28, 2014This story follows the tail (get it?) of Brer Rabbit, a sneaky trickster character who tricks all of the other characters in the book to get what he desires. While this is a children's book, it would be interesting to compare the novel to the idea of "getting over big brother" through tricks and schemes. This story was aimed for African Americans due to the use of Black English, which provides interesting themes that our students may analyze. Who could represent the characters Brer Rabbit tricks in our current society? Who is Brer Rabbit? This can also introduce Black English in the classroom as a study of how it has developed and maybe also a comparison to current Black English.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews