Culture 2 - African American: John Henry

Lester, Julius. JOHN HENRY. Ill. by Jerry Pinkney. New York: Puffin Books, 1994. ISBN 0803716060

JOHN HENRY is a tall-tale retold in words and pictures by a terrific pair. The story is based on a ballad and the text is great when read aloud. Readers will recognize many parts of the story about a larger than life man who could break through mountains with 2 sledgehammers faster than any machine. Pinkney's illustrations are a beautiful accompaniment to a story that still mesmerizes those who hear it.

The story of John Henry comes from a black folk ballad. Some of the lines of text are said to be taken directly from the song but there seem to be quite a few different versions of the song. The idea that John Henry could work harder and faster than any steam drill of his time is accurate in songs and in this text as well. The exaggeration in the story is what makes the tale so easy to listen to. When describing the boulder in the path of a road being built it is described as being "hard as anger and so big around, it took half a week for a tall man to walk from one side to the other." Students I read this to loved when "John Henry was swinging the hammers so fast, he was making a rainbow around his shoulders." The picture for this is mostly shades of brown and beige which enables the rainbow to stand out. The song John Henry sings is definitely in the fashion of a ballad, "I got a rainbow...Tied round my shoulder...It ain't gon' rain, No, it ain't gon' rain."
The books illustrations depict African Americans and whites side by side in many of the pictures. One of the illustrations shows John Henry talking with Ferret-Faced Freddy and a little girl watching their conversation stands out. She is a black girl with round cheeks and braids on her head and she is smiling at the men's bet being made. The pictures portray all the characters accurately in terms of clothing for the time of the story. John Henry's character is shown to be larger than all the other characters since he "grew until his head and shoulders busted through the roof which was over the porch."
Students I read this to were mostly familiar with this story and knew it was a tall tale but were so captured with the story that when I came to the end and it says he was buried in the White House lawn wanted to find out if that was true by taking a trip to see it for themselves.

BOOKLIST - "...the story is told with rhythm and wit, humor and exaggeration, and with a heart-catching immediacy that connects the human and the natural world."

HORN BOOK GUIDE - "Pinkney's evocative illustrations - especially the landscapes, splotchy and impressionistic, yet very solid and vigorous - are little short of magnificent."

Watch a videocassette of the story:
JOHN HENRY
ASIN 6304049285

Read other Caldecott Honor books illustrated by Jerry Pinkney:
THE TALKING EGG by Robert D. San Souci
ISBN 9780590441896

MIRANDY AND BROTHER WIND by Patricia McKissack
ISBN 9780679883333