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Description
Aesop contrasted the ant’s virtues of industry, forward planning, and group loyalty with the idleness of a cicada interested only in merry-making and music-making. That contrast is challenged in many picture book versions of his fable. What does it mean to work? What is the value of making music and art? Can finding delight in an occupation be as important as denying gratification? When is it right to refuse help to someone who asks for it? This review compares six picture books—Ant and Grasshopper by Luli Gray (2011), The Ant and the Grasshopper by Amy Lowry Poole (2000), The Ants and the Grasshopper by Rebecca Emberley (2012), The Grasshopper & the Ants by Jerry Pinkney (2015), The Grasshopper's Song: An Aesop’s Fable Revisited by Nikki Giovanni (2008), and Who’s Got Game? The Ant or the Grasshopper? by Toni & Slade Morrison (2003)—that, together, turn Aesop’s fable into a philosophical quest.
Publication Date
2025
Publisher
Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children
City
Montclair
Keywords
Aesop, art, early childhood education, education, fable, friendship, music, philosophy, philosophy for children, work
Disciplines
Early Childhood Education | Education | Philosophy
Recommended Citation
Gregory, Maughn, "Grasshoppers, Ants, and Philosophical Fables" (2025). Picture Books. 15.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/iapc_thinkingstories_picturebooks/15
