African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Angela Shelf Medearis

I wrote about Angela Shelf Medearis in yesterday's post, so I wanted to follow up with some more of her books today! The first is a a storybook based on a 19th-century cowboy song: The Zebra-Riding Cowboy: A Folk Song From the Old West.

The illustrations are by María Cristina Brusca, and as Medearis explains in her author's note: "Many books, movies, and television programs fail to include Mexican and African-American cowboys when they portray life in the Old West. María Cristina Brusca and I have attempted to correct this oversight in this book. 

The second book I want to feature is a ghost story: The Ghost of Sifty-Sifty Sam.

The illustrations are by Jacqueline Rogers:

And finally, I wanted to share this book which is not based on African American storytelling traditions, but which is instead a retelling of a traditional African folktale from Ghana: Too Much Talk.

The illustrations are by Stefano Vitale:

So, three wonderful books to enjoy, and each one is just a click away at the Internet Archive!

 The Zebra-Riding Cowboy:

A Folk Song From the Old West

by Angela Shelf Medearis

The Ghost of Sifty-Sifty Sam

by Angela Shelf Medearis

Too Much Talk

by Angela Shelf Medearis

African Diaspora at Internet Archive: The Freedom Riddle

I've written about the importance of riddles in both African and African Diaspora traditions, so I wanted to be sure to include this book by Angela Shelf Medearis: The Freedom Riddle.

You might remember Medearis from an earlier post; she wrote a version of Taily-Po! You can read that blog post here: Dark-Thirty and Tailypo.

The illustrations are by John Ward:

As Medearis explains in the introduction her source is a story that Simon Brown told to William Faulkner; you can find out more about Simon Brown and William Faulkner in this post: The Days When the Animals Talked (which is one of my all-time favorite books of African American tales).

So, you can read Medearis's book... and then maybe you will want to hear more stories from Simon Brown too, which you can find in Faulkner's book!

The Freedom Riddle

by Angela Shelf Medearis

African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Dark-Thirty and Tailypo

After writing about the Moaning Bones and the Headless Haunt yesterday, I thought I would share two more books in the supernatural genre! 

First is The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural by Patricia McKissack.

The book contains 10 different supernatural tales, and the illustrations are by Brian Pinkney, son of illustrator Jerry Pinkney (see below). And it won both Newbery Honors and also a Coretta Scott King Award! Here is a list of links to the individual stories: The Legend of Pin Oak / We Organized / Justice / The 11:59 / The Sight / The Woman in the Snow / The Conjure Brother / Boo Mama / The Gingi / The Chicken-Coop Monster.

McKissack wrote over 100 books, and you can find many more of her books at the Internet Archive. For more about McKissack's life and career, see Wikipedia.

The other book is Tailypo: A Newfangled Tall Tale by Angela Shelf Medearis.

The illustrations are by Sterling Brown, with some great two-page spreads.

Angela Shelf Medearis is a prolific author of both children's books and also cookbooks. The Internet Archive has many of her books available:

The story of Taily-Po is a folktale that Joel Chandler Harris recorded in the 19th century as a Brer Rabbit story; you can read the Joel Chandler Harris version edited here, or the published version in Uncle Remus Returns. 

The illustrations in Harris's book are by A. B. Frost:

Here's the illustration by Jerry Pinkney in Julius Lester's version:

I wrote my own version for a class project too. :-)

The full moon is coming soon, and the Internet Archive has all the supernatural stories you need to get in the mood. Enjoy!

The Dark-Thirty:

Southern Tales of the Supernatural

by Pat McKissack

Tailypo: A Newfangled Tall Tale

by Angela Shelf Medearis