Uncle Remus Tales have been around for many years. They have always reminded me of an Appalachian version of Aesop's Fables. They are fun stories for readers of all ages and teach moral lessons. Most characters in the tales are anthropomorphized animals who take on personality traits and characteristics of southern stereotypes. However, there are a few human characters who must interact with the animal characters. Like many other traditional stories, the line between what is human and what is animal is often blurred.
This particular version of the tales, which focuses on the Brer Rabbit stories, won the Coretta Scott King Award. Within his writing, Lester uses southern diction, such as "'cause," "Miz," and "stinkin,'" to create a southern dialect for the characters. Growing up, I had heard some of the Uncle Remus stories and never understood why most characters were titled "Brer;" it turns out, "brer" is a contraction of "brother." Lester even included my personal favorite story, "Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby."
The Brer Rabbit character can be traced all the way back to African origins as the trickster character; however, the name has changed in the Americanized version. Because of its roots in African literature and southern literature, The Tales of Uncle Remus is definitely a traditional and multicultural book.
The tales would be very good as a read-aloud to elementary students, and many literary devices could be taught to even high school students. Students really enjoy literature which has been alluded to many times throughout history.
Some questions readers may ask: How does Brer Rabbit get himself into and out of his situations? Why should I strive to not be like Brer Rabbit?
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