The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac

K-Gr 2—In this picture book telling of the origin of the Chinese zodiac, The Jade Emperor realizes that he needs a way to tell time. In order to name the years, he announces a race for all the animals. Whoever crossed the river first will win, and the first 12 animals will have a year named for them. Rat was supposed to wake up Cat on the morning of the race, but Cat was too heavy a sleeper, which is why there is no year of the Cat, and why cats chase rats to this day. In retelling the traditional tale, Corr skillfully weaves in traits associated with some of the animals, as the Emperor congratulates the "clever rat," "kind ox," and "lucky rabbit." Corr's distinctive folk-art style gouache illustrations are fun, bright, and bold. They're easier to read from across the room than Ed Young's Cat and Rat and help make this a good choice for classroom read-alouds. However, unlike other versions of this tale (including Gabrielle Wang's The Race for the Chinese Zodiac), there is no back matter offering further information.