Starred Review ALA Booklist (Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 1992)

Starred Review Wildly exuberant, full of slapstick and mischief, this version of an enduring Nigerian trickster tale is a storyteller's delight. The words have the drama and immediacy of the oral tradition (Zomo! / Zomo the rabbit. / He is not big. / He is not strong. / But he is very clever). As Zomo talks to Sky God and outwits Big Fish, Wild Cow, and Leopard, the book design reinforces the surprising exploits of a trickster who is cunning but may not always be wise. In his figures and tropical landscapes, set against bright yellow sunlit pages, McDermott blends the brilliant geometric patterns of West African kunte cloth with styles from theater and collage. There's a sense of helter-skelter movement, as if Zomo may dart off the edge of the world, as if he can barely contain his dancing energy. McDermott's note points out Zomo's cultural descendants, including Brer Rabbit. In The Fortune-Tellers , Hyman's West African setting for Alexander's original trickster tale is meticulously detailed with a precise sense of place. McDermott's tale is a larger-than-life story of wit and animal energy, for laughing out loud. (Reviewed Sept. 15, 1992)

Horn Book

Neither big nor strong, Zomo is clever. However, as he finds out from Sky God, cleverness and wisdom are not synonymous. To attain wisdom, Zomo has to, through trickery, obtain the scales of Big Fish in the sea, milk Wild Cow, and deliver the tooth of Leopard to Sky God. The West African tale of the quest for wisdom is told with colorful illustrations and a fascinating plot.

Kirkus Reviews

A rabbit asks the sky god for wisdom, and learns that he must first fool three animals. <p> A rabbit asks the sky god for wisdom, and learns that he must first fool three animals. McDermott tells the tale in punchy, short sentences and sunny paintings that echo African styles and motifs. Zomo is a bucktoothed comic figure whose antics will keep readers laughing; and though he accomplishes his tasks more easily than Ananse in Haley's A Story, A Story, the prize is smaller too--the wisdom Zomo garners from the sky god is that ``next time you see Big Fish, Wild Cow, or Leopard...better run fast!'' (Folklore/Picture book. 5-8)</p> "

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3-- McDermott tells the story of Zomo the rabbit, the trickster who originated in Nigeria and who lives on in the lore of the Caribbean and the United States. When the irresponsible black rabbit asks the Sky God for wisdom, he is given three impossible tasks: he must get the scales of Big Fish, the milk of Wild Cow, and the tooth of Leopard. He does all these things and in the end the Sky God rewards him with wisdom, and warns that next time he sees his victims, he had better run fast. This colorful rendition of the story is done with the kind of bold graphics that gave McDermott's early works their immediate popularity. The horizon is low on the page so that there is a great sense of air and space. The bright gold of the sky adds warmth. The illustrations masterfully integrate a variety of styles the artist has used in the past. His characters are more realistically drawn than in his earliest work, but they are adorned with dramatic graphic patterns. It is larger and more visually expansive than McDermott's Anansi the Spider (1972) or The Magic Tree (1973; o.p., both Holt). With its small but triumphant hero clad in a colorful dashiki and a cap, its dazzling design, and its great good humor, this story will be a pleasure to use with children. --Marilyn Iarusso, New York Public Library