The Dark Thirty: Southern Tales Of The Supernatural

The Dark Thirty: Southern Tales Of The Supernatural - Patricia C. McKissack, illustrated by Brian Pinkney
Coretta Scott King Award Winner
Random House
ISBN: 0-679-81863-4

My rating: 4 out of 5

This is a great book to read around Halloween. The stories are relatively short and make for pretty good read-alouds. They all take place in the southern U.S. and are a little different than other "traditional" ghost stories.

The illustrations in this books are pretty good. I believe that the illustrator used a technique called scratching to create these. He painted a layer of black on a layer of white and used a very sharp point to scratch away the paint to make a white line. In my opinion, this technique can be hard to master, mainly because you cannot erase what you have done, but I think Mr. Pinkney has done a good job.

The only thing I would caution about this book is that some of the stories involve the Klan and slavery. If the children have not been taught about these things, I would be hesitant in selecting this book.

All in all, I belive that "The Dark Thirty" is a great book to read aloud - especially in late October.

The Creation

The Creation - James Weldon Johnson, illustrated by James E. Ransome
Coretta Scott King Award Winner
Holiday House
ISBN: 0-8234-1069-2

My rating: 4.5 out of 5

This book is actually an illustrated edition of a poem from Johnson's, "God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse." The poem itself is very well-done, plain spoken, and easy to understand. Even if you are not a "poetry person," you will enjoy reading this story, mainly because it does not feel like you are reading a poem that you cannot understand.

The illustrations are very rich, detailed, and beautiful. There are pages in the book that have no text that truly capture the reader's attention.

"The Creation" is a great book to use to introduce poetry to students, especially if they already have it in their minds that it is hard and something you cannot understand, because this book is the exact opposite.