This beautiful collection, retold by Anne Gatti, with artwork by Safaya Salter, presents fifty-eight of Aesop's classic fables, many accompanied by full or half-page illustrations. They range from well-known favorites such as The Tortoise and the Hare, to lesser-known selections such as The Dishonest Doctor.

Gatti's retelling is competent and flows well, but I would not describe her prose as being especially accomplished. I read this Aesop's Fables - the eighth such collection I have picked up for my current "Aesop Project" - in one sitting, on my morning commute, and the fables themselves "slipped by," making very little impression. Not so with Safaya Salter's gorgeous artwork, which stands out like a colorful exclamation point in my memory.

According the the dust-jacket blurb, Ms. Salter is half Egyptian, and one can detect the influence of the illuminated manuscripts of the medieval Arab world on her work. Her palate is vivid and jewel-like, her full-page plates often have intricate decorative borders, and the reader can occasionally spy an architectural detail that looks Middle-Eastern. Other influences can also be detected, and I was particularly pleased to see Greek black-figure vases incorporated into a number of the illustrations. Well worth the time of any Aesop devotee! ( )

This is an outstanding collection of fables. ( )

$14.75