African Folktales at Internet Archive: The Great Minu

This week I've been focusing on books illustrated by Diane and Leo Dillon (see the Dillons' books), and to finish up the week I'm going to shift focus to another fabulous illustrator: Jerry Pinkney. Here's today's book: The Great Minu by Beth Wilson, just a click away at the Internet Archive.

The source for Wilson's story is West African Folktales by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair, a book originally published in 1917, which means it is in the public domain and widely available online, including at Internet Archive. You can compare that text of the story with the version in Wilson's book. 

The version Barker collected is very short, but easy to expand, and Wilson has added other encounters for the farmer to meet along his way, beautifully illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. So, for example, he meets a woman washing clothes:

He meets a grandmother telling stories:

But he continues on to the city, and the Accra that is shown here is a more modern Accra; for example, the farmer sees big ships in the harbor, and also an opulent hotel:

I won't spoil the surprise of what happens on his journey and what he learns (and no, the farmer is not the "Minu" of the book's title); it's a lovely story and a beautiful book. Plus, for those of you who know Jerry Pinkney from his Brer Rabbit illustrations (which are THE BEST Brer Rabbit illustrations), you will recognize his distinctive way of depicting the animals too:

I'll be back with another book illustrated by Jerry Pinkney tomorrow. Meanwhile: more about the great Jerry Pinkney: Adventures of Spider. 

And for a story you won't forget, take a few minutes to read this book; you can just click and read, thanks to Internet Archive:

The Great Minu

by Beth Wilson