Skull Talks Back - Tapa dura

A talking mule, a talking skull, a witch who slips her skin, and a man so powerful that he's not admitted to heaven or hell star in this appealing but flawed companion to What's The Hurry, Fox? and Other Animal Stories (p. 331), illustrated by Bryan Collier. Jenkins's semi-abstract, black-and-white scenes of ghosts and bones add eerie atmosphere to the six folktales; Thomas has recast Hurston's original, thick dialect into a modern idiom, while nicely preserving that country flavor: "No, Pa, that mule's done gone to talking, I tell you. I ain't going." But some of the stories are only fragments, and the collection as a whole is jumbled; a boaster named High Walker dies in one tale, but isn't introduced until a later one, and Thomas's introduction has, oddly, been placed at the end. Hurston's work merits a less clumsy introduction to young readers, and Mary Lyon's Raw Head, Bloody Bones (1991) is only one of many similar folktale gatherings with a higher chill factor. (source notes) (Folktales. 8-10) (Kirkus Reviews)

Do you dare to cross paths with ...An enchantress who can slipin and out of her skin, A man more evil than the devil, A skull who talks back, A pair of creepy feet that canwalk on their own?Spooky, chilling, and fantastical, this collection of six scary tales will send shivers up your spine!The stories in the skull talks back have been selected from Every Tongue Got To Confess, Zora Neale Hurston's third volume of folklore. Through Joyce Carol Thomas's carefully adapted text and Leonard Jenkins's arresting illustrations, the soulful, fanciful imaginations of ordinary folk will reach readers of all ages.