African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Tukama Tootles the Flute

Yesterday's book of stories came from Trinidad, and the picture book for today features a story from the island of St. Thomas, in the Virgin Islands due east of Puerto Rico: Tukama Tootles the Flute by Phillis Gershator. 

Gershator, who lives in St. Thomas, relied on a version collected by Elsie Clews Parsons, while adapting the story with her own experiences of the island, as she explains in the note to the story. For more about Parsons and her massive collection of stories from the Antilles, see this earlier post: Folklore of the Antilles, and here is a link to that specific story: The Escape. 

The marvelous illustrations in the book are by Synthia Saint James (who has African, Haitian, and Cherokee family heritage); you can find out more at her website. Here is little Tukama playing while standing on the giant's knee:

This book was actually Synthia Saint James's first children's book, but she has gone on to do many more, and you can browse through some of them at the Internet Archive: Synthia Saint James. For example, you can recognize her distinctive style here in No Mirrors in My Nana's House.

Which is a song sung by Sweet Honey in the Rock!

Meanwhile, I'll be back with more from Phillis Gershator tomorrow too! For now, enjoy the books... and the music!

Tukama Tootles the Flute

by Phillis Gershator