The great Race is the traditional folktale about the origin of the Chinese Zodiac. In that zodiac, there are 12 years to the cycle. Just as one's birth sign in a traditional zodiac is supposed to influence a someone's personality, the same could be said for the year of one's birth year and the Chinese zodiac. this folktale describes the great race that took place to determine the order of the animals in the zodiac. Each animal portrayed displays certain traits that someone born in that year supposedly shares. The story also explains why cats and rats do not get along.

In this book Christopher Corr retells the story in words and brightly painted pictures that will capture a child's interest. I would recommend this book for storytime to preschoolers and early grades and for independent reading for older children. This book could also be used in the classroom during a social Studies unit on Chinese culture or a Language Arts unit on folktales and origin stories.

I received a copy of this boo from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Such a fun story with beautiful and bright illustrations! I never really thought about the origin of the Chinese Zodiac or why certain animals were chosen til now. The story was engaging and whimsical. I appreciated that it felt lighthearted and not at all deceitful between the animals. Often times, there were goups of animals that decided to work together. Overall, it was a nice read with an enjoyable cast of characters (or in this case animals).