The All Jahdu Storybook - Hardcover

Hamilton, Virginia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0152394982 ISBN 13: 9780152394981

Publisher: Harcourt Childrens Books, 1991

Synopsis

Virginia Hamilton has once again brought her well-loved trickster, the invisible Jahdu, to life in this updated collection of eleven previously published, and four newly created, stories. Jahdu is based on a centuries-old folklore tradition, yet the tales themselves are original and drawn from Hamilton’s imagination. “The language is vigorous and masterfully honed, while the character of lively, powerful, self-defining Jahdu has appeal.”--Kirkus Reviews

About this title

About the Authors

VIRGINIA HAMILTON (1936–2002) was one of the most highly acclaimed writers of her time. Her many awards included the National Book Award, the John Newbery Medal, the Coretta Scott King Award (twice), the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award (twice), the Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Ohioana Book Award, and two of her novels were cited as Newbery Honor Books. She was a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Queen College and the Ohio State University. Ms. Hamilton was married to poet/author Arnold Adoff and divided her time between New York City and Ohio.

BARRY MOSER is the prize-winning illustrator of many beautiful books for children and adults, including Harcourt’s Telling Time with Big Mama Cat and Sit, Truman!, both co-illustrated by his daughter Cara Moser and written by Dan Harper. He has won the American Book Award and earned accolades from the American Library Association and the American Institute of Graphic Arts. Mr. Moser lives in western Massachusetts.

Reviews

Grade 3-6-- A collection of 11 previously told tales and 4 completely new ones. In the original stories, The Time-Ago Tales of Jahdu (1969) , Time-Ago Lost (1973, both Macmillan; both o.p.) , and Jahdu (Greenwillow, 1980; o.p.), Mama Luka entertains her young charge, Lee Edward, by plucking stories about Jadhu out of the air and tasting them before passing them on. In these reconstructed versions, Mama Luka has been removed and Jahdu emerges as the central character, an ``all-out trickster, magical and devilish, good and bad, imp and elf.'' These mythical tales are set in a fantasti cal place and time to convey mystery, adventure, humor, and enjoyment. Moser's striking watercolors show texture and consistency of drama without ever portraying the diminutive fellow graphically. Readers and listeners will find delight and wonder in these tales. A storyteller's treasure.
- Helen E. Williams, formerly at University of Maryland, College Park
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In 1969, Hamilton published The Time-Ago Tales of Jahdu, four tales about a trickster boy-hero who expressed his sense of freedom by ``running along'' and whose favorite exclamation was ``Woogily!'' Like those in Time-Ago Lost (1973), they were set in a framing story about ``Mama Luka'' in ``a fine, good place called Harlem,'' telling her stories to young Lee Edward. Now Hamilton drops the framing story, adds a central section (``Jahdu Adventure'') with four new pieces (including one involving the giant Trouble as a robot and one in which Jahdu encounters several folkloric characters), and tightens and reshapes the whole. By eliminating the explicit celebration of pride in the black experience, she highlights the rich blend of creation myths, philosophies, and folklore that inspired these tales; they seem more universal here than they did in the earlier setting. But they are still not easy; like the later books in the Justice series, they can be hard to follow, their events imposed by symbols that seem arbitrarily intertwined. Still, the language is vigorous and masterfully honed, while the character of lively, powerful, self-defining Jahdu has appeal even though some of his adventures are less than compelling. Moser contributes the attractive design and 20 beautifully painted glimpses of the scenes and characters in Jahdu's world. (Fiction. 8-12) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harcourt Childrens Books
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0152394982
• ISBN 13: 9780152394981
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Moser Barry
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 104