Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales

by Virginia Hamilton, Diane Dillon (Illustrator), Leo Dillon (Illustrator)

Overview

Gracefully told by Newbery Medalist Virginia Hamilton, this collection of 19 stories focuses on the magical lore and wondrous imaginings of Black women.

Vibrant paintings by Caldecott Medallists Leo and Diane Dillon glow with the drama and mystery of each tale while reflecting the warmth and beauty of the people who first told them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780590473705
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	11/01/1995
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	364,745
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.64(d)
Lexile:	960L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Leo & Diane Dillon are two of the most acclaimed illustrators of our time. They collaborated for more than five decades. Their long list of awards includes two Caldecott Medals, the NAACP Image Award, five Coretta Scott King Awards and Honors, four Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards, and induction into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame. Leo and Diane created award-winning picture books, book covers, magazines, and other art until Leo’s death in 2012. Love and the Rocking Chair is their final collaboration. Diane Dillon lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Virginia Hamilton (1936-2002) changed children's literature for generations of readers, winning every major award in her field across the globe. Her awards and honors include the Newbery Medal, the National Book Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, a MacArthur Fellowship, and four honorary doctorates. Virginia was married to Arnold Adoff, and they have two children and one grandchild.

Date of Birth:

March 12, 1936

Date of Death:

February 19, 2002

Place of Birth:

Yellow Springs, Ohio

Place of Death:

Yellow Springs, Ohio

Education:

Attended Antioch College, Ohio State University, and the New School for Social Research

Website:

http://www.virginiahamilton.com/

Editorial Reviews

"The storytelling is dramatic and direct in this collection of 19 tales... The Dillons' glowingly detailed acrylic illustrations extend the horror, comedy, rhythm, and spirit of the tales." — Booklist, starred review

"...these are tales to be read over and over again." — Publishers Weekly, starred review

"It's hard to envision the shelf — children's or adult — on which this volume doesn't belong." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Virginia Hamilton and the Dillons have produced yet another superb offering... The book is a gallery of beautiful women of color. Entrancing and important, this notable collaboration deserves a wide success." — School Library Journal, starred review

From the Publisher

The distinguished creators of The People Could Fly and Many Thousand Gone return for this striking collection of 17 tales, each featuring an African American woman or girl as the main character.

True stories, ghost stories, folk legends, classic fairy tales, tall tales and more indicate the breadth of African American cultural traditions. Retold from a variety of sources, the stories flow smoothly in Hamilton's expertly measured prose. The full-color illustrations, one per story, are lush and detailed, like the Dillons' work in Pish, Posh, Said Hieronymus Bosch. In a handsome oversize format, the book itself reflects unusually high production values. Text and art are laid against a buff background in a sophisticated but uncrowded page design, and the volume is bound with an unusually heavy casing. It will need that sturdiness, for these are tales to be read over and over again. Ages 6-up. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Outstanding interpreters of, and contributors to, black culture for children, Virginia Hamilton and the Dillons have produced yet another superb offering, of value to all ages and segments of our society.

Her Stories contains 20 brief pieces, equally (if sometimes rather abitrarily) distributed in 5 sections: animal tales, fairy tales, supernatural stories, "folkways and legends,'' and true tales (including Hamilton's own account of this book's genesis). Vernacular rather than dialectal, the fluid writing recalls the oral sources of these tales (there is a source bibliography, and comments on provenance follow each tale). As the title implies, the stories all feature females, but there is nothing predictable about the roles they play. Funny, touching, scary, magical, and inspiring by turns, the characters are as varied as the narratives-and as the tastes of readers. The Dillons' electric-hued acrylic paintings (16 full-page, several vignettes, and an enticing jacket) catch the tales' multiple moods.

The book is a gallery of beautiful women of color. Entrancing and important, this notable collaboration deserves a wide success.
-- Patricia (Dooley) Lothrop Green, St. George's School, Newport, RI

School Library Journal

The storytelling is dramatic and direct in this collection of 19 tales about African American females, beautifully retold by Hamilton in a wide variety of simple, colloquial voices and styles.

"There was this glory-looking young girl in the times when animals talked. She was Lena, beauty."

Animal tales, "pourquoi" tales, tales of the supernatural, legends, tall tales, and factual accounts are gathered in a large-size volume designed for group sharing, with big, clear type and wide margins. The stories also leave lots of space; the endings leave you wondering.

The Dillons' glowingly detailed acrylic illustrations extend the horror, comedy, rhythm, and spirit of the tales, ranging from the glamour of the mermaid to the creepy terror of the Cat Woman to the legendary power of Annie Christmas, who was "coal black and tree tall."

As in Hamilton's exquisite collection The People Could Fly (1985), the notes on the stories -- where they came from, how they traveled and changed, what they mean -- are as fascinating as the tales themselves. Reading about women who labored "from dayclean to daylean" and who made up stories in the great, lonesome night will inspire many young people to read more about folklore and to collect stories from family and community.

Older readers may want to read this collection with Goss' new adult collection Jump Up and Say!.

Hazel Rochman