John Henry by Julius Lester

Lester, J. (1994). John Henry. New York: Dial Books.

In this adaptation of the classic tall tale, Julius Lester brings John Henry to life with sing-song, southern, tall-tale language. One of the reasons that I enjoyed this book is because of the way the author expresses the story and the language that he uses. For example, when describing what the sun saw as it awoke one morning, Julius Lester mentions a "mountain as big as hurt feelings." As a child, I loved to read and write tall-tales. It was fun to think back on those memories as I read this story. Jerry Pinkney does an excellent job of illustrating this book and his pictures perfectly compliment Julius Lester's words.

Julius Lester has written many other books including Sam and the Tigers, The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit, From Slave Ship to Freedom's Road, To Be a Slave, Pharaoh's Daughter: A Novel of Ancient Egypt, and Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue. Many of Lester's books are illustrated by Jerry Pinkney and focus on African American heritage and folk tales.