Classics
Br'er Rabbit and the Tar Baby
From the African American oral tradition: a small rabbit with no strength to speak of, who talks his way out of a trap by the bigger animals when begging not to be thrown in the briar patch.
This Week · Cleverness
Cleverness: when is being clever better than being strong?
For littler ones: When is it better to be smart than to be big and strong?
This week we're wondering about being clever — and what it's good for. When is being clever better than being strong? Sometimes the thing in your way is bigger than you, and muscle won't do it. That's a good one to turn over in the car or at the table, because the answer isn't always the same twice.
This week's stories
Classics
Jack and the Beanstalk
A boy who trades the family cow for a handful of beans, climbs into the house of a giant who'd happily eat him, and comes back down quicker than the giant can follow.
Classics
The Three Little Pigs
Two pigs build quick and easy and lose their houses to the wolf; the third builds slow and hard in brick — and that's the one the wolf can't blow down.
Talk about it
- When was a time you couldn't get something done with strength — and had to think your way through it instead?
- Br'er Rabbit is small, Jack is small, the wolf is big and strong. Does being the bigger one always mean winning?
- Two pigs built fast and one built slow. When is it worth doing something the slow, hard way?
A new question every week.
Listen together in the app — short audio stories for kids 4–10, at bedtime, on the drive, in the drop-off line.
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