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Tukama Tootles the
Flute
A Tale from the
Antilles
illustrated
by Synthia Saint James
Orchard
Books, 1994
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*Bank
Street's Best
Children's Books, 1994
*BCCB
Blue Ribbon Book,
1994
*CCBC
Choices, 1994
*Consortium
of Latin
American Studies Programs (CLASP)
*Starred
review, Kirkus
*Starred
review, Hornbook
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| From
the
book jacket: |
Tukama, he’s a wild one. Instead of helping
his grandmother carry the coal, fetch water, or dig potatoes,
he’s off climbing up and down the dangerous cliffs by the sea, all the
while tootling his flute.
“Where you been, boy?” she asks once Tukama gets
home. “Don’t you know a two-headed giant runnin’ about here, loookin’
for wild children to eat?”
And don’t you know that such a question, even
such a possibility, is just enough to start a boy like Tukama off on
some mischief?
Lively words and striking oil paintings show
what happens when a young boy is brave before he is wise.
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| A little
about the book: |
My love of folktales often leads me to want to
recreate them. Knowing this, my friends Willie Wilson and Karen
Bertrand suggested I write to Richard Jackson, who edited their
children's book, Up Mountain One
Time. I did. And--happy day!--he chose to publish two of my
retellings: Tukama
Tootles the Flute
and The Iroko Man. Tukama includes
a mix of traditional rhymes and children's chants, and now "Tukama's
song" is available on a CD: This Is the
Day! Storysongs & Singalongs.
Tukama
was the first children’s book
illustrated by Synthia Saint James, well known for her bold and
gestural paintings and her jacket design for the bestselling novel Waiting to Exhale.
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| From the reviews: |
“...the story will delight listeners and readers alike with its
momentum and action, and Saint James’ oil paintings, with their large
geometric forms and bright, predominantly primary colors, add greatly
to the tale’s appeal.” Booklist
“...it’s a wonderful read- or tell-aloud, with colloquial dialogue,
lost of repetition, and a satisfying symmetry in the way Tukama is
lured, step by step, into the giant’s clutches...and then, bit by bit,
persuades the giant’s wife to let him out of the bag in which he’s
imprisoned....An outstanding introduction to a less well-known
folklore.” Kirkus, starred
review
“Retold in a flowing, polished style, well suited to oral
interpretation....a gift to storytellers....handsome stylized oil
paintings....” Horn Book,
starred review
“The language is lively and lyrical; children will want to join in on
the refrains. The bold and simple oil paintings are striking.” Children’s book Review Service
“Children will recognize elements of such classics as Jack and the Beanstalk in
this atmospheric adaptation....The text pulses with the rhythms of
island dialect and is laced with the casual asides of an oral
storyteller. Debut illustrator Saint James lays down swaths of bold
colors for her abstract representations.” Publishers Weekly
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