Selected and annotated by Katrina Bromann
An April Fool's Day bibliography.
Afanasyev, Alexander Nikolayevich. The Fool and the Fish; A Tale from Russia; ad. by Lenny Hort; illus. by Gennady Spirin. Dial, 1990. Ages 4-7.
Yasha, Sasha, Masha, and Dasha are all hardworking, but Ivan the Fool is lazy. Yet, he is the only one foolish enough to listen to a talking fish. The fish then grants Ivan all his hearts desires, including a princess, a palace, and his beloved green boots. Colorful and lively illustrations enhance the hilarity and fun of this story.
Anderson, Hans Christian. The Emperor's New Clothes; designed and illus. by Virginia Lee Burton. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1949. Gr. 4-7.
An emperor who loves new clothes is tricked into wearing nothing in a parade down the main street of town by two clever robbers.
Badoe, Adwoa, ad. The Pot of Wisdom: Ananse Stories; illus. by Baba Wagué Diakité. Groundwood/Douglas & McIntyre, 2001. Ages 5-9.
This collection contains several traditional African Ananse stories; some in which the spider succeeds, others in which he makes a fool of himself. In "Ananse and The Pot of Wisdom" he proves that even the wise can act foolishly, when Ananse waves with all eight legs and loses his pot of wisdom.
Birdseye, Tom, ad. Soap! Soap! Don't Forget the Soap!: An Appalachian Folktale; illus. by Andrew Glass. Holiday House, 1993. Ages 4-6.
Plug Honeycut is as forgetful as he is foolish. On his way to the store to buy soap he has trouble remembering his purpose and has several misunderstandings and hilarious encounters with the townsfolk before miraculously returning with the soap!
Christian, Mary Blount. April Fool; illus. by Diane Dawson. Macmillan, 1981. Ages 5-9.
Seth the Dreamer saves the town of Gotham from inhabitance by the intolerable King John in this story of the first April Fools' Day.
Garner, Alan. The Three Gowks. A Bag of Moonshine; illus. by Patrick James Lynch. Delacorte, 1986. Ages 4-6.
Tom is about to marry into a family of fools, or gowks. He sets off on the condition that he will only return if he meets three bigger gowks on his travels. He does not go far before he returns home! This story is one of many in a collection about boggarts, fools, gowks, and hobgoblins from the folklore of England and Wales.
Gilstrap, Robert and Irene Estabrook. The Sultan's Fool, and Other North African Tales; illus. by Robert Greco. Holt, 1958. Ages 4-6.
In the title story of this collection, Mahboul is the favorite courtier of the Sultan, with only one problem: his ravenous appetite. The Sultan devises a plan to stop Mahboul from eating so much, but Mahboul responds with an equally clever plan to earn his last meal. A good example of how the court "fool" is often very smart!
Hickox, Rebecca. Zorro and Quwi: Tales of a Trickster Guinea Pig; illus. by Kim Howard. Doubleday, 1997. Ages 5-9.
In this Peruvian version of the animal trickster tales is unique because while the fool is still a fox, the hero is an adorable little guinea pig.
Jagendorf, Moritz Adolph. Noodlehead Stories from Around the World. Vanguard Press, 1957. Ages 8 and up.
Sixty-four stories of fools from around the world make up this collection, including Juan Bobo and the towns of Chelm and Gotham. Two tales, "The Foolish People" and "Little Head, Big Medicine" originate from the Native Americans.
Johnston, Tony, ad. The Tale of Rabbit and Coyote; illus. by Tomie dePaola. Putnam, 1994. Ages 3-6.
Part Brer Rabbit, part explanation of why the coyote howls at the moon, and part the origin of the rabbit who lives in the moon, this folktale originates from Juchitán, Oaxaca, Mexico. After rabbit is first fooled by the farmer, he earns his freedom by fooling the coyote many times over, until rabbit reaches safety on the moon. The text and illustrations incorporate Spanish words.
Montes, Marisa. Juan Bobo Goes to Work; illus. by Joe Cepeda. Harper Collins Publishers, 2000. Ages 4-9.
In this Puerto Rican folktale sprinkled with words and phrases in Spanish, young Juan Bobo must go out daily to look for work. He messes up his chores and never manages to make it home with his payment. Still, Juan Bobo saves the day when he makes a sick girl laugh with his foolish antics.
Ness, Caroline, ad. The Thirsty Fool The Ocean of Story: Fairy Tales from India; illus. by Jacqueline Mair. Lothrop, 1996. Ages 7 and up.
This is a collection of nineteen fairy tales from India. The Thirsty Fool is only half a page long and in fable-like fashion teaches us that "even the biggest river can only be drunk one gulp at a time."
Sanfield, Steve. The Feather Merchants and Other Fools of Chelm; illus. by Mikhail Magaril. Jackson/Orchard, 1991. Ages 8 and up.
This book contains thirteen stories about the foolish people who inhabit the Yiddish town of Chelm. In "The Feather Merchants," two brothers, Avrom and Reuven, scheme to get rich by investing in pillows. With too many pillows to carry, they devise a plan to cut open the pillows, let the feathers fly home, and recollect them once they return to Chelm. They wait a very long time for all the feathers to blow home!
Wattenberg, Jane, ad. Henny-Penny; ad. and illus. by Jane Wattenberg. Scholastic, 2000. Ages 3-7.
When Henny-Penny gets hit on the head with an acorn, she is sure the sky is falling. She convinces all her fellow fowl to race with her towards the king, only realizing upon meeting the fox that she does not know where the king lives. Her own foolishness saves Henny-Penny in the end, but her friends are not so fortunate. Crazy illustrations make this book a visual delight.
