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Virginia Hamilton

The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales Hardcover – Picture Book, January 13, 1985

by Virginia Hamilton (Author), Leo Dillon (Illustrator), Diane Dillon (Illustrator)

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"The well-known author retells 24 black American folk tales in sure storytelling voice: animal tales, supernatural tales, fanciful and cautionary tales, and slave tales of freedom. All are beautifully readable. With the added attraction of 40 wonderfully expressive paintings by the Dillons, this collection should be snapped up."--(starred) School Library Journal.

This book has been selected as a Common Core State Standards text Exemplar (Grade 6-8, Stories) in Appendix B.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Humor, magic and mystery underscore the theme of freedom in this collection of stories drawn from the African-American folktale tradition. Renowned for her knowledge of the genre and seamless manner of delivering it, Hamilton comes together with two prize-winning illustrators to contribute yet another hardy volume. It includes gruesome, suspenseful and fanciful accounts of black history, as well as the narratives of "voices from the past," among them, Hamilton's own ancestors. Along with powerfully evocative pictures, the book has a glossary and notes on the origins and different versions of tales. The People Could Fly won the 1986 Coretta Scott King Award.

From Publishers Weekly

Three winners of multiple honors have created this incomparable book. The Dillons illustrate Hamilton's 24 stories with marvelous pictures alive with the spirit of each: sly humor, mystery, pathos and, most powerfully, the human need for freedom. In the author's introduction and notes, we find information on black history, on the original slave storytellers"voices from the past"that include her own ancestors. The stories are given full effect by Hamilton's use of colloquial language, evoking the artless entertainer relating the exploits of "Bruh Rabbit" and other animal tricksters. The reader's emotional response, however, is to the artists' depictions and the author's narrative in "The People Could Fly." They are the slaves from Gulla who, according to legend, escape the master's abuse one day. "They rose on the air. Say they flew away to Free-dom." (All ages).
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7 The well-known author here retells 24 black American folk tales in sure storytelling voice. In four groupings she presents seven animal tales (including a tar-baby variant); six fanciful ones (including "Wiley, His Mama, and the Hairy Man" and a tale of which Harper's Gunniwulf Dutton, 1967 is a variant); five supernatural tales (including variants of the Tailypo, John and the Deviland a wild cautionary tale, "Little Eight John"); and finally, six slave tales of freedom, closing with the moving title story. Depending on the sources, some of the tales use a modified dialect for flavor; one told with quite a few words of Gullah dialect has a glossary. All are beautifully readable. The book has a bibliography, and comments follow each tale, including one personal note of a family account involving one of her grandfathers. Two other collections of black folk tales, Courlander's Terrapin's Pot of Sense (Holt, 1957; o.p.) and Faulkner's The Days When the Animals Talked (Follett, 1977; o.p.) are both out of print. With the added attraction of 40 bordered full- and half-page illustrations by the Dillonswonderfully expressive paintings reproduced in black and whitethis collection should be snapped up. Ruth M. McConnell, San Antonio Public Library
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

The stories are given full effect by Hamilton's use of colloquial language, evoking the artless entertainer relating the exploits of 'Bruh Rabbit' and other animal tricksters. The reader's emotional response, however, is to the artists' depictions and the author's narrative in 'The People Could Fly.' -- Publisher's Weekly

About the Author

Virginia Hamilton, storyteller, lecturer, and biographer, was born and raised in Yellow Springs, OH, which is said to be a station on the Underground Railroad. Her grandfather settled in the village after escaping slavery in Virginia. She was educated at Antioch College and Ohio State University and did further study in literature and the novel at the New School for Social Research. Virginia was the first African American woman to win the Newbery Award, for M.C. Higgins the Great. Since then, she has won three Newbery Honors and three Coretta Scott King Awards. In 1992, Virginia was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, which is presented every two years by the International Board on Books for Young People, in recognition of her entire body of work. Virginia writes first for the pleasure of using words and language to evoke characters and their world, and in historical accounts such as Anthony Burns, the lives of real people. Secondly, Hamilton writes to entertain, to inspire in people the desire to read on and on good books made especially for them.

Publisher : Knopf Books for Young Readers; 1st edition (January 13, 1985)
Language: : English
Hardcover : 192 pages
ISBN-10 : 0394869257
ISBN-13 : 978-0394869254
Reading age : 10 - 11 years
Lexile measure : 480L
Grade level : 5 - 12
Item Weight : 1.7 pounds
Dimensions : 8.38 x 0.81 x 10.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #580,221 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #156 in Children's General & Other Myth Books
- #365 in Children's Folk Tale & Myth Anthologies
- #714 in Children's Multicultural Literature

Customer Reviews:
346 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		87%
4 star		7%
3 star		3%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Sarah Lynch

Great Stories

Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2020

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My 5 year old son loves these stories and they are a current favorite. Some of the stories are perplexing (due to language/dialect), but many of them are quite good. We haven’t completely gotten through the book yet, but these stories are not depressing and one had us laughing out loud. Some stories do mention slavery and I have been teaching my son about that history, so he was already somewhat familiar.

5 people found this helpful

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Cyndi

Fantastic book

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2017

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Beautifully written. We homeschool and are doing a comprehensive course study about segregation and slavery. This book and the history surrounding it has been a wonderful edition. After reading The Story of Ruby Bridges and Pink and Say, the whimsical stories telling hard truths has been a welcome change of pace. Many people have probably heard the tales of Brere Rabbit, Fox, Bear and the like. Anyone interested in a wonderful telling in audiobook form should look for Danny Glover reading Brer Rabbit and the Wonderful Tar Baby.

10 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Hmm

Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2019

Verified Purchase

Not good for reading comprehension. The English is not proper. Ok read for family fun.

5 people found this helpful

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D. Walk the Prime Queen

Imaginative and Beautiful Folktales

Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2018

Verified Purchase

Wonderful book of folktales! The stories are so vivid and i love that they are from an African American perspective; our perspective is usually erased or skimmed over. Loved this so much! Can’t wait to read the stories to my granddaughter.

5 people found this helpful

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DatDCFrancochick

A MUST read for every child

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2019

Verified Purchase

I buy this book every time someone I know has a baby. It's a fantastic collection of traditional West African and African-American folktales. Any and every child should have a copy of this book on their shelf. Definitely a classic in children's literature.

3 people found this helpful

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Billy Dee Breeze

GREAT BOOK

Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2020

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I had this book when I was a child. I may be dating myself but when I originally came into possession of this book it came with an audio cassette that featured James Earl Jones narrating some of the stories. The tape broke and I could never find a decent replacement until recently!!! Not only am I glad to have this book again, but I am beyond ecstatic that it came with an audio cd with said narrations. Great book, and great stories. God Rest Virginia Hamilton

One person found this helpful

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manshoe

And I flew with the people............

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2016

Verified Purchase

This is a classic book of American Black Folktales with stories that may enrich the youth. The author does an excellent job of relating the stories chosen for this publication. The many awards that this book has received, in my opinion, are well deserved. Books have a way of transporting the reader to another time or place, to captivate the reader to forget his or her surroundings and become one with the storyteller. This classic work fulfills this description.

6 people found this helpful

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T. Woodcock

I had this book as a kid and sad that I couldn't find my copy

Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2016

Verified Purchase

I had this book as a kid and sad that I couldn't find my copy. I ordered it to use in my high school English classroom to give students a different perspective. My own children enjoyed the stories (except the spookie ones). A wonderful book of slave narratives.

9 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

miss a blair

Love it. Happy memories

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 5, 2015

Verified Purchase

Love it. Happy memories. Classic book. So glad to have again as i was searching for this book. So happy.

Alexandra

Good

Reviewed in Canada on December 29, 2019

Verified Purchase

Interesting topic

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