Who's Got Game?

Toni Morrison reads three fables by Aesop that she has updated with her son, Slade. She gives each classic vitality and invites listeners to reexamine the moral found in the ending. In the first story, her hip-hop rhythm engages the listener in the story of Foxie G. (Grasshopper), a fun-loving, basketball-playing music fan, and his cohort ace, Kid A (Ant). The second story, a retelling of the lion rescued from a thorn by a small mouse, also rhymes, but Morrison gives its gentler rhythms a softer narration. The last story, "Poppy or the Snake," tells of a grandfather who uses story to teach his grandson about paying attention. The story is rich in dialect as Morrison reads, especially in the character of the "sass-mouthed" snake. S.W. 2008 Grammy Nominee (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

April 9, 2007
Renowned novelist Morrison delivers her hip-hop–inspired interpretations of three of Aesop's fables (previously published as picture books, co-created with her son) in a gentle, melodious style. In "Who's Got Game?: The Grasshopper or the Ant?," Kid A, the ant, and Foxy G, his grasshopper pal, don't see eye-to-eye on their work ethic. But Grasshopper's artistic dreams may have listeners pondering what it means to give and take. Lion and Mouse experience a bit of role reversal when the smaller creature removes a thorn from the king of the jungle's paw in "Who's Got Game? Lion or the Mouse?," and snakes will be snakes in "Who's Got Game? Poppy or the Snake?" When a grandfather affectionately known as Poppy runs over a snake, the slithering creature craftily guilts the man into making amends. But when the snake eventually bites the hand that helps him, Poppy is prepared. Listeners of all ages will savor these familiar stories with a fun twist, especially as performed here with easygoing panache. Ages 6-up.