Legend of John Henry

A rhythmic retelling of a classic American folktale, marked by vividly detailed and colorful illustrations, presents the moving tale of powerful railroad worker John Henry and his race with the steam drill. Reading Level, 3.6.

Grade 2-6-A picture-book retelling, in rhythmic verse, of the well-known African-American folktale. This version is most notable for its powerful text. The profoundly spiritual overtones of the tale are richly realized in the poem's solemn, elegiac feel. Small does an admirable job of maintaining the natural speech patterns of African-American dialect within the four-line stanzas. Unfortunately, the illustrations do not match the text's ability to communicate the deep power of the story. While they have a folk-art quality and a simplified, almost naive style that is appropriate to the subject, they are static and uneven and suffer in comparison not only to the text, but also to the far more dynamic and expressive illustrations in Ezra Jack Keats's John Henry (Knopf, 1987). Comparison to other recent renditions-those in Robert D. San Souci's Larger than Life (Doubleday, 1991) and Mary Pope Osborne's American Tall Tales (Knopf, 1991) shows that Small adds a few elements, but in the main adheres to the traditional version. This John Henry is a delight to read aloud- its rolling and solemn verses are moving both to read and hear. However, the illustrations do not live up to the promise of this hymm to the legendary man's noble and generous strength.
Stephen Del Vecchio, Family Academy, New York City
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This lengthy, illustrated narrative poem concentrates on the folk hero's epic confrontation with a mechanized drill, excluding other traditional episodes. Replaced twice by the machine, John Henry challenges its owner to a contest when it threatens to displace him a third time. John Henry's speech borrows its rhythm and rhyme from the familiar song: "John Henry jes smile and strip to the waist. / 'Well, a man ain't nothin but a man. / But before the steam drill beat me down, / I gon die wit a hammer in my han,' / Lawd, Lawd--gon die wit a hammer in my han.' " He wins, and dies, perhaps knowing that machines will replace men no matter what he does. The primitive-style illustrations recall WPA murals, with John Henry posed dramatically as the hero of the African American worker--a role further emphasized by the white drill owner's slighting description of him as an "uppity, loudmouth boy." Unfortunately, Small ( The Legend of Pecos Bill ) paces the story slowly, and at times it drags. The text also lacks a source note, but in spite of such flaws this volume offers a valid new version of a classic American tale. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Once again, Man measures himself against Machine, with results both tragic and triumphant. Small (The Legend of William Tell, 1991), tells the tale in rhymed quatrains that evoke, without mirroring, the rhythmns of the traditional ballad. In Small's illustrations, John Henry cuts a muscular, suitably heroic figure, gesturing emphatically against a series of camp scenes and Virginia landscapes painted in shades of russet and gold. The language is sometimes forced (``He growed up big and look so strong,/But sad is all he feel,/And he never smile till he hear the sound/Of a hammer strikin' steel''), but the legend's epic quality is preserved. A rendition with the power, if not the distinctive style, of Ezra Jack Keats's John Henry (1965). (Folklore/Picture book. 8-11) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.