Innocence

"Keats' illustrations, cast under an agate sky, ripple and pulsate with energetic beauty." —The New York Times. "Surely it is the best yet by Ezra Jack Keats, a Caldecott Medal winner." —The Chicago Tribune. A dazzling book, popular with kids and grown-ups alike. With a black hero and a Summers County, West Virginia, setting, it also serves to build regional and minority pride. Great for reading to those too young to read and for the lower elementary grades. Sanfield, Steve. A Natural Man: The True Story ofJohn Henry. Illustrated by Peter J. Thornton. Boston: David R. Godine, Publisher, 1986. 48 pages. Oversized hardback in dust jacket. $13.95. "This is a standout retelling," said the New York Times, of the legend of John Henry, the black man who beat a steam engine at laying railroad tracks through a Summers County, West Virginia, tunnel. A "triumphant book about a genuine hero." —^Publishers Weekly. For ages 7-12. Shelby, Anne. We Keep a Store. New York: Orchard Books, 1990. 32 unnumbered pages. Hardback in dust jacket. $14.95. Although this picture book has a universal setting and its illustrations feature a black family, the author actually grew up in a white family in Laurel County, Kentucky. It is the first published book by a young woman who did her master's thesis at the University of Kentucky on Appalachian literature. The story tells, simply and effectively, about the joys of growing up, as the author did, in a family that keeps a country store. The book is illustrated by John Ward of Flushing, New York. • Innocence Hardly a woman, She repeats the banns in an ancient ritual she hardly understands. She destines progeny by taking the hand of shy masculinity— Hardly a man. —Willie Hardison Eckles 74 ...