Bruh Rabbit And The Tar Baby Girl [Hardcover]

Virginia Hamilton (Author), James Ransome (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up

Esteemed author Virginia Hamilton retells the classic trickster tale of Bruh Rabbit and the Tar Baby in her own distinctive, playful vernacular with paintings by acclaimed artist James Ransome.

Bruh Rabbit may indeed have met his match when he comes across a tar baby in the middle of the road. The baby's deaf, dumb and blind attitude infuriates the plucky trickster, just as Wolf planned! When Bruh Rabbit gets entangled in the tar baby's sticky embrace, has he finally been foiled by his long-time enemy? Certainly not, if Wolf falls for Bruh Rabbit's clever reverse-psychology and flings the wily rabbit into the briar patch!
Spun in Virginia Hamilton's unique vernacular, this will be a delight to those familiar with Bruh Rabbit's games, and a unforgettable introduction for newcomers!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 4-Hamilton's masterful retelling of the tar baby story brings Bruh Rabbit to Bruh Wolf's well-tended garden, where he just helps himself to the corn and peanuts. A "scarey-crow" doesn't frighten Bruh Rabbit at all, so Bruh Wolf puts up a tar baby girl, "standing black in the moonshine." Bruh Rabbit is perplexed. "This seems like a little girl. I best study upon this here." By the time he's done studying upon that silent girl, he's completely stuck. Bruh Wolf is ready to eat him, but Bruh Rabbit pleads, "- I beg you.- You may roast me and toast me; you may cut me up and eat me. But whatever you do, don't throw me in the briar bush!" Readers familiar with or new to the story will relish the rabbit's sneaky escape. Retold in Gullah, Hamilton's narrative is meticulously paced, lyrical, hilarious, and a joy to read aloud. Ransome's lush watercolors suit the story perfectly; there are expansive double-page paintings as well as full-page pictures that face a page of framed, large-print text. An endnote describes the story's origins, as well as some of the possibly obscure terms. This lovely example of a folktale in picture-book format will be a welcome addition to any library.
Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

PreS-Gr. 2. As demonstrated in her African American story collections The People Could Fly (1985) and Her Stories (1995), the late Hamilton's research into history and folklore has always been rigorous, but she has never allowed it to get in the way of her telling. In this version of the beloved Tar Baby trickster story, she drew on Gullah folklore from the Sea Islands of South Carolina. Her rhythmic, immediate version is well matched by Ransome's paintings, both cozy and exciting, which extend the fun with beautiful farmland scenes at "dayclean" (dawn) and "daylean" (evening) picturing the wily rabbit thief in human clothes repeatedly outwitting the wolf. The hilarious climax of the story is unforgettable as Rabbit first talks to Tar Baby ("'Girl, why won't you speak to me? What you doing out here?'"), then sticks to her, each part of his body in turn. Although things look bleak, Rabbit still wins in the end, and Hamilton's source note, which points to Bruh Rabbit as a favorite character among African American slave storytellers, who always seemed helpless but was traditionally really tricky and clever. A perfect choice for reading aloud. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Blue Sky Press; 1St Edition edition (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059047376X
• ISBN-13: 978-0590473767
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 9.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #905,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #78 in Books > Children's Books > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths > United States

More About the Author

Virginia Esther Hamilton was born, as she said, "on the outer edge of the Great Depression," on March 12, 1934. The youngest of five children of Kenneth James and Etta Belle Perry Hamilton, Virginia grew up amid a large extended family in Yellow Springs, Ohio. The farmlands of southwestern Ohio had been home to her mother's family since the late 1850s, when Virginia's grandfather, Levi Perry, was brought into the state as an infant via the Underground Railroad.

Virginia graduated at the top of her high-school class and received a full scholarship to Antioch College in Yellow Springs. In 1956, she transferred to the Ohio State University in Columbus and majored in literature and creative writing. She moved to New York City in 1958, working as a museum receptionist, cost accountant, and nightclub singer, while she pursued her dream of being a published writer. She studied fiction writing at the New School for Social Research under Hiram Haydn, one of the founders of Atheneum Press.

It was also in New York that Virginia met poet Arnold Adoff. They were married in 1960. Arnold worked as a teacher, and Virginia was able to devote her full attention to writing, at least until daughter Leigh was born in 1963 and son Jaime in 1967. In 1969, Virginia and Arnold built their "dream home" in Yellow Springs, on the last remaining acres of the old Hamilton/Perry family farm, and settled into a life of serious literary work and achievement.

In her lifetime, Virginia wrote and published 41 books in multiple genres that spanned picture books and folktales, mysteries and science fiction, realistic novels and biography. Woven into her books is a deep concern with memory, tradition, and generational legacy, especially as they helped define the lives of African Americans. Virginia described her work as "Liberation Literature." She won every major award in youth literature.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My daughter loves this book!, October 1, 2009

By 

KWiz - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bruh Rabbit And The Tar Baby Girl (Hardcover)

I purchased this book a couple of weeks ago, and I'm so glad I did. Reading this book is so much fun (if you get into the characters)! And my daughter absolutely enjoyed the story! I have another Brer Rabbit book that I sometimes read to my daughter, but it is nowhere near as entertaining. My daughter has even asked me to "Read it again!" after the first read; it is THAT much fun. But when you read it aloud (how else would you read it), it is imperative to actually get into the character-speak, otherwise, you might miss it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Book, November 24, 2008

By 

Susan Long Castelli (Murfreesboro, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bruh Rabbit And The Tar Baby Girl (Hardcover)

The illustrations in this book are beautiful. It is a wonderful tale for Brer Rabbit fans. My second grader read it on her own. A bonus: there is an AR test for it!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars cute story, February 12, 2004

By 

Melissa Sack (georgia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bruh Rabbit And The Tar Baby Girl (Hardcover)

This book is an interesting twist on an old story. Bruh Rabbit gets into Bruh Wolf's well-tended garden and eats his corn and peanuts. Bruh Wolf makes a "scarey-crow' in hopes that will keep Bruh Rabbit out. Bruh Rabbit comes back still. The next step Bruh Wolf takes is to make a tar baby girl. When Bruh Rabbit see the tar baby girl he gets mad because it will not speak to him. He ends up hitting her, kicking her and trying to bite her. Of course he gets stuck to the tar baby girl in the process! Bruh Wolf comes alos ang tries to get him. Bruh Rabbit tricks himself out of the situation by begging not to be thrown into the briar patch. Bruh Wolf falls for the trick and throws him in but Rabbit really loves it there! Fooled again!

It has extraordinary illustrations that would captivate the attention of any child, even ones with short attention spans.

I would recommed this book for kids ages 5-8. They will enjoy the story read aloud or to read silently to themselves