Br'er Rabbit Captured !!

 

     

                

         Miss Lill, John D., Ms. Rabbit and all the little Rabbits
         relax on the front porch and watch while Dr. David captures
         Br'er Rabbit --- on canvas, with his paints and brushes.

 

 

                      

                         Br'er Fox has big plans for Br'er Rabbit.

 

                         
         
                      " Good Morning !" said Br'er Rabbit.

                    " Good Morning!"  said Cleome,
                    "What are you doing up there?"




                      
               
                   "We want to see your laughing place NOW!"
                          said Br'er Fox and Br'er Wolf.
                   "Okay," said Br'er Rabbit. "Follow me!"



 

                                
     

     "Pack your bag, John D.!
   We're going on an adventure!"

       That's how it begins, with an invitation from his uncle, the famous portrait painter
Dr. David Harleyson, to come along on a new adventure...going south to Sandy Creek to find Br'er Rabbit.

Dr. David plans to capture the
famous trickster...
--on canvas---
a portrait he's always dreamed of painting. 

Br'er Fox has "thoughtfully" agreed to help.




Getting Br'er Rabbit to sit for his portrait is easier said than done; he has to keep slipping away from Br'er Fox and Br'er Wolf,
who also want to capture him...
to barbeque!



It will be a summer of adventure and misadventure for John D. as he takes part in some classic Uncle Remus tales.



Just as John D. promised,
he writes home to his Dad everyday.
But can he "Stay out of trouble!"
like his Dad told him to do?

You'll have to read his letters to find out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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            SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL  review...

         Br’er Rabbit Captured! :   A Dr. David Harleyson Adventure

  •    "Having painted portraits of fairy-tale characters in The Mysterious Collection of Dr. David Harleyson , the world-famous pig now takes his nephew John D. down South to capture Br’er Rabbit on canvas. In alternating letters home, John D. and his uncle recount their adventures searching for the elusive rabbit. On long summer afternoons they enjoy the hospitality, food, and stories of Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear, while becoming part of a few stories themselves. Dr. Harleyson paints formal, full-page portraits of each animal, including Br’er Fox with a book of things to do with tar, Br’er Bear in dappled shade, practical Br’er Buzzard, handsome Br’er Wolf, and even Br’er Rabbit sitting quietly on his porch with a bucket of blackberries. Cassels captures the cadence of Southern speech without using heavy dialect. The gouache paintings expand the letters, as does the assortment of train tickets, recipes, blackberries, and insects arranged on the page as if someone had laid them on a wooden table. Bees hover over the honey-colored pages, and the flies look so real that readers will try to brush them away. The artist’s fondness for these stories shines through, and young readers may well be inspired to read more traditional tellings, such as Julius Lester’s Uncle Remus: The Complete Tales or even Joel Chandler Harris’s original Br’er Rabbit stories . An author’s note explains the origin of the stories and their importance to American literature." --SLJ

 

                Kirkus Review....

  •     BR’ER RABBIT CAPTURED!

  •    "Hoping to add Br’er Rabbit’s to the suite of familiar folk-tale character portraits exhibited in The Mysterious Collection of Dr. David Harleyson, the porcine painter sets out for rural Sandy Creek. As related in a series of letters home, the visitors get a warm country welcome from Br’er Fox, Br’er Bear and other local residents, who, in exchange for portraits of their own, trot out good-humored renditions of the Tar Baby story and other well-known instances of the elusive lagomorph’s trickery. Cassels interleaves smaller scenes of each encounter with the handsomely finished, full-page formal sittings—depicting Br’er Fox, for instance, with a stained tome entitled What to Do with Tar, Br’er Wolf in a natty grey suit and, at last, a prosperous-looking Br’er Rabbit sitting comfortably on his porch. Yet another capture and escape later, all gather (more or less) convivially for a group showing. Closing with a recipe for blackberry pie and an appreciation of Joel Chandler Harris’s tales (though not specific source notes), this makes an amiable introduction to Van Dyke Parks’s Jump!, illustrated by Barry Moser, Julius Lester’s Tales of Uncle Remus, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney and their sequels."
    --Kirkus Reviews