ABOUT THE BOOK
FIFTEEN FABLES presents fifteen original fables written by author Judith Weinshall Liberman. Like Aesop’s fables, each of these modern fables imparts an important moral. Most of the fables utilize animals as their subjects; others use people, or flora and fauna, or inanimate objects. The subjects of the fables cover a range of human characteristics, including aggressiveness and vanity. Through these fables, readers, young and old, will gain insight into human behavior, and will be inspired to do their best.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Israel (then called Palestine ), Judith Weinshall Liberman came to the United States in 1947 to pursue higher education. She earned four American university degrees including two in law, a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and an LL.M. from the University of Michigan Law School. After settling in the Boston area in 1956, she studied art and creative writing. Beginning in the early 1960s, and for four decades thereafter, Ms. Liberman created numerous series of artworks. Her art has been widely exhibited, and is represented in the collection of museums and other public institutions. During her long career in visual art, Ms. Liberman wrote several books, among them some children’s books. Her book THE BIRD’S LAST SONG (Addison-Wesley, 1976), which she also illustrated, won a citation as one of the fabulous books of the year. Since 2012, she has published several additional picture books, including ICE CREAM SNOW (2012), THE LITTLE FAIRY (2013), COLOR IN OUR WORLD (2014), THE VERY OLD PAINTER AND HER HUSBAND (2014), HAIFA (2014), ANGEL’S PUPPIES (2014), THE GIANT HOUSE (2014), THE BEE AND THE BUTTERFLY (2014), THE MOUNTAIN (2014), THE TUNNEL (2014), and THE OLD DOLL (2014). Judith Weinshall Liberman’s archives can be found in the Arts Department of the Boston Public Library and at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
This is the eighth book on which Judith Weinshall Liberman, the author, has collaborated with Gail Davis, the illustrator. Since she did not feel that, in light of her deteriorated eyesight, she could do justice to illustrating FIFTEEN FABLES herself, Ms. Liberman selected a fine artist, Ms. Gail Davis, to create the illustrations under the author’s guidance. The two had previously collaborated on THE LITTLE FAIRY, on THE VERY OLD PAINTER AND HER HUSBAND, on ANGEL’S PUPPIES, on THE GIANT HOUSE, on THE MOUNTAIN, on THE TUNNEL, and on THE OLD DOLL. In the present book, Ms. Davis beautifully captures the spirit of the fables and of their diverse characters.
