Further Tales of Uncle Remus - Author Study

Lester, J. (1990). Further Tales of Uncle Remus. Dial Books: New York.

Although four Uncle Remus Books were published, they were later republished as a complete collection so this third book was the last one that I could personally get a copy of.  This book continues to have encounters between Brer Rabbit and Mr. Man but also other animals mishaps with Mr. Man as well.  This collections introduces new characters such as Brer Buzzard and Brer Polecat.  What is important to note in these books that I hadn't noted before was that when Lester originally read Joel Chandler Harris's versions of these stories they were in "black slave language" and thus they were hard for those that speak common English today to understand.  Lester kept some of that slang or dialect as we refer to it, like Ain't and gon' but made it so the entire story isn't filled with that language.

The reason I point out language is because it is important to teach students about the use of dialect and slang in writing and when it is appropriate and when it is not.  The lesson is great to discuss author's purpose and language choice.  This collection is a good example of that.  The introductions written by Lester helped to give students the background knowledge to better synthesize the stories and make inferences from them.