This book has a great moral that you can never please everyone. The illustrations are smooth and tell the story without any words. The best part about the pictures are the details of the land.

In this tale a miller, his son, and their donkey set off for the market. The father begins ridding the donkey until a passerby admonishes him for forcing his son walk the distance, so the two switch places. Later the travelers meet another person on the road who is appalled that the son would ride while his father walks, so they both ride the donkey for a while. This continues until a man walking the other directions threatens to hit them for working the donkey so hard. At this the father and his son decide to carry the donkey. The donkey is so uncomfortable that he bucks his way out of his ties and gallops away free and happy. The book is illustrated with warm colors and muted, soft strokes giving the reader a feeling that the story is taking place in a far away land. The illustration of the characters and the setting add to this feeling as it differs greatly from what one sees is typical western society. The moral here is that one cannot please everyone.

I like the illustrations in this book and the great lesson that it teaches. Children should be able to follow this easily. ( )

FROM LIBRARY CATALOG:

A miller and his son, on their way to market with their donkey, find it impossible to please everyone they meet.