Rabbit Makes a Monkey of Lion by Verna Aardema

Theme: Using ones brain can often prevail over brut strength.

Plot: Rabbit and friends eat honey from Lion's Calabash tree twice and because of their fast thinking survive, but when the honey guide proposes a third attempt rabbit wisely refuses the temptation.

Characters:

Rabbit - quick witted, quick on his feet and wise.
Bush Rat - quick witted, an accomplis to Rabbit in the theft of the honey.
Turttle - quick witted accomplis to Rabbit.
Honey guide - a bird who finds the honey, but only sends the other animals to eat it. An instigator.
Loin - confident of his brute strength, but dim witted; thus, always out smarted by the smaller animals. His most frequently used line was, "He made a monkey out of me."

Illustrations: Jerry Pinkney created full colored art work which was prepared using pencil, colored pencil and watercolor. It was then color-separated and reproduced as red, blue,yellow and black halftones.

What extension activities could you do based on this story?