The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales

Powerful, incredible, poignant and emotional, this is a book to own and read often. There is no softness in the portrayal of black slaves slashed, degraded and tired, oh so tired. There is hope in an old man named Toby, tall and able to inspire those who are beaten down by their lot to fly, fly away upward into a life better, oh so much better.

"These tales were created out of sorrow. But the hearts and minds of the black people who formed them, expanded them, and passed them on to us were full of love and hope. We must look on the tales as a celebration of the human spirit." (from the Introduction)

Offers a varied selection of tale types with some repetition among the individual stories. Tales are divided into: He Lion, Bruh Bear, and Bruh Rabbit And Other Animal Tales; The Beautiful Girl of the Moon Tower And Other Tales of the Real, Extravagant, and Fanciful; John and the Devil's Daughter And Other Tales of the Supernatural; Carrying the Running-Aways And Other Slave Tales of Freedom.

Highly recommended to all ages. Though, if you're able to find it, I would go for the show more edition that includes the CD with narration by James Earl Jones. My library was unable to get that edition. :(

Purely for entertainment reasons, "The Peculiar Such Thing" was my favorite story. I could see folks telling that one at night sitting around the campfire. It felt like a tale that should've been included in the Scary Stories series from my tween/teen years.

Two stories really nailed the real-life origins of folktales: the first was "Carrying the Running-Aways" because it is such a personal story to Hamilton's own family history. The second, "The People Could Fly," packed serious emotional punch. A powerful way to end the collection.

4 stars
(Only reason not 5 stars is that I wish the illustrations had been in color like the cover was.) show less

This is absolutely a book that belongs on every child's shelf, regardless of their skin color. I remember hearing about this book on television (I think Reading Rainbow?) and wanting to read more.

As an adult, I look back and these stories have even more meaning, given what I have studied about slavery and civil rights. A+++

Virginia Hamilton — herself descended from enslaved people who escaped via the Underground Railroad — retells Black folktales like "He Lion, Bruh Bear and Bruh Rabbit" and "How Nehemiah Got Free" in a simple, powerful style. Put that together with Leo and Diane Dillon's luscious illustrations and you have an almost perfect story-hour read. (For ages 8 and up)

audio production of expertly curated folktales. The intermittent music between stories was not optimal for my drifting-off-to-sleep purposes, but the collection itself is solid, with explanatory notes of historical significance after each. Recommended.

I read the story Little Eight Jon in the book The People Could Fly by Virginia Hamilton. I really enjoyed this short story, however I don’t think its suitable for young children. It might be best for kids in grades 4-6 because of the scary content. Firstly, I think that the language of the tale is written to sound like it’s being told, not read. For example, on page 122, “Little Eight Jon went right ahead on and found him a toad and a frog. And he squished the toad. Then he squashed the frog.” It really sounds like the story is being told from someone else, rather than just reading a typical fiction book. I definitely believe that the language of the book contributes to the culture of origin coming through. For instance, the show more reader can immediately tell that Little Eight Jon and his family are from the south because the opening sentence is “ Little Eight Jon come be small boy, say he lived long ago”(pg.121). The reader can infer than the dialect is from the south a long time ago. Also, to help the reader, there is a short paragraph to tell the audience exactly which culture this folktale takes place. This book is slightly scary because Little Eight Jon is turned into grease at the end because he didn’t listen to his mother, and is never seen again. However, I think the moral of the story resonates with children, because all kids disobey their parents, but sometimes there are consequences to your actions. show less

Summary:
A collection of stories of American Black folktales including early tales of Brer (Bruh) Rabbit and Tar Baby. After each folktale a few paragraphs are devoted to telling more about the story's origination and important parts or facts about the story. It is a rich book full of information about early African-American life and is a wonderful way to expose children to folk tales they may not have heard yet. Wonderful black and white drawing go along with the stories and the emotion on the animals' and peoples' faces is enchanting.

Review:
This book does everything for me that Disney's Brer Rabbit does not: it takes the traditional African-American folktales and gives them the respect and place they deserve. With wonderful show more explanations of every story and why they were important, I found myself wanting to read more simply to gain knowledge of a people stripped of their originial tales and stories. A wonderful book that should be read to every child. show less