5-9)Ī collection of parental wishes for a child. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam-but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move.
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. An unusually handsome presentation of an appealing tale. Pinkney's delicately tinted scratchboard illustrations are his best yet the many fine lines swirl through the dramatic black ground, catching the sea's luminous glow and softening the sturdy figures with diaphanous garments. A careful note explains that this eventful, richly complex story was based on a folktale from the Sea Islands of South Carolina, as well as on Caribbean and West African sources. Wicked Mister Jones steals the dowry and kills Dembo but Mama Jo appears one last time to bring him back to life.
Homesick, Sukey bargains for a chance to go home and is also given a dowry and the promise of a fine husband, to be named Dembo. Mister Jones drinks up most of the money eventually, he tries to capture the mermaid, who escapes and takes Sukey to her undersea kingdom. Weary of the unreasonable demands of Mister Jones, her new stepfather, Sukey escapes to the water's edge, where she meets ``a beautiful, brown-skinned, black-eyed mermaid''-Mama Jo-who befriends and comforts her and each day gives her a gold coin.
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