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"The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales"

 Told by Virginia Hamilton                Illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon   

Image Source: thriftbooks.com
        The purpose of "The People Could Fly: America Black Folktales" is found in the introduction: "The tales in this collection are in four sections that represent the main body of black folktales" (pg xi). After each folktale Hamilton provides information on where it came from, the dialect, other variants of the folktale and a general explanation when available. The narrative style is preserved, however, like Hamilton says in the introduction, it is better when read aloud. This read aloud of the picture book version of "The People Could Fly" folktale was a great way to hear the narrative in its true form. Based off of the folktales I read, the intended audience is to be read or told to children by an adult storyteller. The format does allow for it to be read allowed to a group as well.
        There are twenty-four folktales in this collection. The folktales are divided into four sections. The first section is "He Lion, Bruh Bear, and Bruh Rabbit and Other Animal Tales". This section includes the Bruh Rabbit folktales that you may be familiar with including, "Doc Rabbit, Bruh Fox, and Tar Baby". These folktales use anthropomorphic animals to tell tales of the trickster Bruh Rabbit and other familiar animal characters. The second section, "The Beautiful Girl of the Moon Tower and Other Tales of the Real, Extravagant, and Fanciful" includes folktales that have riddles or tall tales. The third section, "John and the Devil's Daughter and Other Tales of the Supernatural" includes ghost stories. The fourth and final section is "Carrying the Running-aways and Other Slave Tales of Freedom". These are the folktales of the slaves that either earned their freedom with their whits or ran away. Having the folktales organized this way helps keep similar stories together, however, they can be read independently of each other. You can also read them continuously if you so choose.
    The black and white illustrations help support the mood of each folktale. For example the illustrations showing Doc Rabbit getting his feet stuck in Tar Baby shows the humor within that story. However, the illustrations included with "A Wolf and Little Daughter" shows us a large, intimidating, dark wolf leering over the young girl holding flowers in a lightly shaded dress that shows her innocence. The illustrations help to show the story with more detail, however, as these were originally to be told orally, are not integral to the story.


Hamilton, Virginia. The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales. Illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. Alfred A. Knopf, 1985. 178 pages. Tr. $24.49 , ISBN 0-394-86925-7.
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