Margaret Clark, who confesses in her foreword that she had little fondness for Aesop's work as a child, here presents twenty-seven of his classic fables, retold without their usual moral conclusion. The idea of separating the story from the "preacherly" tone is not entirely unprecedented in Aesop adaptation, although I think the nature of the tales themselves defeats any effort to do away with the moral message altogether. That said, Clark's retelling did not impress me, not because she chose to concentrate on the story, but because I found her voice too self-consciously informal and colloquial.

Charlotte Voake's illustrations, on the other hand, were simply delightful! Her droll animal characters are an entertainment in and of themselves, with their sly sideways glances, and humorous expressions. Judged on this basis alone, I might have awarded The Best of Aesop's Fables four stars, but taken together with the text, this volume gets three. ( )