Jean de La Fontaine

Hello! My name is Jean de La Fontaine, and I love to tell stories. I was born a very long time ago, on July 8th, 1621, in a beautiful town in France called Château-Thierry. When I was a boy, I spent hours wandering through the nearby forests and fields. I loved watching the busy ants, the clever foxes, and the hopping hares. I always wondered what they might be thinking and what stories they would tell if they could talk.

When I grew up, I had a few different jobs, but my favorite thing to do was write. I especially loved writing poems. One day, I had a wonderful idea. What if I wrote stories about the animals I loved watching? But these wouldn't be just any stories. They would be special stories called fables. A fable is a short tale where animals act and talk like people to teach an important lesson, which we call a moral. I was inspired by an ancient storyteller from Greece named Aesop, who had written fables thousands of years before I was born.

In the year 1668, I published my very first book of fables. I was so proud! I even gave it to the king's young son, hoping he would learn from my tales. In my stories, you can meet a tortoise who teaches a speedy hare that 'slow and steady wins the race.' You can read about a fox who uses flattery to trick a crow out of its cheese, and a tiny mouse who proves that even the smallest friends can be the greatest helpers. My animal characters could be wise, silly, grumpy, or kind, just like people!

I kept writing for many years, and in 1684, I was invited to join a very important group of writers in France, which was a great honor. I lived to be 73 years old. Even though that was long ago, my fables are still shared with children all over the world. I hope that when you read about my talking animals, their stories make you smile and think about how to be a good and clever person.