About The Book

Twelve remarkable folktales, culled from the Black experience in Africa and America, are freshly retold in the thoroughly original voice of Julius Lester.  Arranged by topic – Origins, Love, Heroes, and People – the tales will delight readers of all ages with their universal themes and uncanny wisdom.  Though some of these stories have been around for centuries and many were passed down by slaves, Julius Lester’s urban expressiveness and Tom Feelings’s spirited drawings give them continued resonance for today’s audience.

Praise

“The simplicity and grace of [Lester’s] writing make Black Folktales a sheer delight.” –Los Angeles Times

“Although these tales have been told before . . . Lester brings a fresh, street-talk language to them and thus breathes new life into them. It is a tribute to the universality of these tales–and to Lester’s ability to see it–that we are thus presented with old truths dressed for today.” –The New York Times Book Review

‘so immediate is the force of their telling, you almost hear [Lester’s] voice. And Tom Feelings is right there by his side, creating illustrations as vibrant and as immediate as the words.” –Publishers Weekly