An Illustrated Treasury of African American Read-Aloud Stories: More than 40 of the World's Best-Loved Stories for Parent and Child to Share (Hardcover)

~ Susan Kantor (Editor), Christian Clayton (Illustrator), Jan Spivey Gilchrist (Illustrator), Christy Hale (Illustrator), Michael McCurdy (Illustrator) "Anansi lived in a country that had a queen who was also a witch..." (more)
Key Phrases: old riding horse, gonna study war, magic bones, Brer Rabbit, Hairy Man, Brer Fox (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

African American Read-Aloud Stories is a classic collection including myths, fables, folk tales, fairy tales, tall tales, and much more. Stories include "Anansi Gets What He Deserves," "Timba," "The Dissatisfied Bird," "Why Hawks Kill Chickens," "The Wonderful Tar Baby," and more. It also includes African American songs, biographies of famous African Americans, and recollections of slavery. Thirty specially commissioned color illustrations by accomplished children's artists enhance reading enjoyment.

About the Author

Susan Kantor is a published author and an editor of children's books. Some of the published credits of Susan Kantor include Tiny Tilda Saves Easter (Reading Railroad Books), An Illustrated Treasury of African American Read-Aloud Stories: More than 40 of the World's Best-Loved Stories for Parent and Child to Share (Read-Aloud), Tiny Tilda's Pumpkin Pie.


Christian Clayton has a B.F.A. from the Art Center College of Design where he is now on the faculty.  He lives in Pasadena, California.

Jan Spivey Gilchrist's career as a fine artist has spanned a quarter of a century.  Ms. Gilchrist has won numerous awards and commissions throughout her career, including the Coretta Scott King Award for Nathaniel Talking, and a Coretta Scott King Honor Book for Night on Neighborhood Street.

Ms. Gilchrist's works have appeared on national television. Her illustrations have been featured or reviewed in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, L.A.Times , USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Ebony Magazine, and others. She was inducted in the International Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent in October of 2000. She was also inducted in the prestigious Society of Illustrators in 2001.

Jan Spivey Gilchrist has four degrees: a BS in Art Education from Eastern Illinois University, an MA in painting from the University of Northern Iowa, an MFA in writing for children from Vermont College, and a doctoral degree in English from Madison University. She also has a grown son, William, who as a boy was the model she used for William and the Good Old Days by Eloise Greenfield. She also has a daughter, Ronke, and a granddaughter, Raena Bethany Prude.

Jan and her husband, Dr. Kelvin Gilchrist, live in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois.

Christy Hale is an illustrator, designer, art director and writer. As a young child she liked to draw on tiny pads of paper. She tore off these “illustrations” and tucked them inside books along side the appropriate writing passage. Christy has made books her whole life. She studied calligraphy, bookbinding, letterpress and all other means of fine art and commercial printing, typography, design, and illustration.

She received a B.A. in Fine Arts and Masters in Teaching at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, then worked as an art educator for several years. She relocated to New York to pursue illustration, earned a B.F.A. in illustration at Pratt Institute, then worked in publishing as a designer and art director. She taught at the Center for Book Arts and in the Communication Design department at Pratt—all while simultaneously beginning an illustration career. Christy has illustrated many books for children. Her book Elizabeti's Doll was an ALA Notable, and received a pointer from Kirkus as well as two starred reviews from School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. Publisher's Weekly called the book “A little slice of perfection.”

After 9/11 Christy and her family moved from Brooklyn to Northern California. She continues working as an illustrator, designer/art director, and as an educator, writing for Scholastic Professional and Instructor Magazine.


MICHAEL McCURDY was born in New York City in 1942 and grew up in New Rochelle, New York, and in Marblehead, Massachusetts. He attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (where for a year (1965-1966) his roommate was David McPhail, now the well-known children's book author and illustrator). Another future children's book illustrator, Wallace Tripp, shared the busy printmaking department with McCurdy and McPhail. Michael created his first wood engraving there in 1962.  He was graduated as well from Tufts University in Medford, MA (B.F.A., M.F.A.), and in 1966 was awarded a traveling scholarship from the Museum School.

Michael has taught at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA 1966-1977), Concord Academy (Concord, MA 1972-1975), various adult printmaking courses in Concord and Lincoln, and at Wellesley College Library's Book Arts Program, 1976. He also has had many exhibitions of his work, and currently over 200 books contain his illustrations. He used to lecture extensively as well, but is not available  now for such activities.

Michael has  illustrated books he has authored as well. These include Toward the Light (a collection of his wood engravings with accompanying anecdotes, published in Canada); The Illustrated Harvard: Harvard University in Wood Engravings and Words; The Devils Who Learned to be Good; Hannah's Farm: The Seasons on an Early American Homestead; The Old Man and the Fiddle, and Trapped by the Ice: Shackleton's Amazing Antarctic Adventure. He edited and illustrated an abridged version of Frederick Douglass's first autobiography, renamed Escape from Slavery: The Boyhood of Frederick Douglass in His Own Words, published in 1994. His latest authored and illustrated book is, An Algonquian Year: The Year According to the Full Moon.

Michael's wood engravings and drawings are found in trade books for both adults and children and in fine limited editions. 

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers; Later Printing edition (December 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579123473
• ISBN-13: 978-1579123475
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 9.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #278,661 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE IT!!!!, August 5, 2008

By	Alisa M. Flowers "Apples" (Edina, Minnesota) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a must have for all AA children. My eight year old daughter loves it and I'm happy to see a book that is dedicated to us that is well worth every penny:)

5.0 out of 5 stars something to talk about, June 1, 2008

By	taslade1 "Tee" (CA) - See all my reviews

I read this book to my son. He loves the Moon king and Earth King story.The book has
Myths
Fables
Fairy Tales
Folk Tales
Friends and Helpers
Hawk and Cicken Tales
Rabbit stories
Liar,Fool and Tall Tales
Biography, Slavery and African-American Songs.
44 Stories and 6 songs in all. Fun to read

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not for age 13 and below, March 24, 2006

By	A. Bouknight (Waldorf, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The text was way too hard for my 9 year old to read aloud to me. Then when I read to her I spent more time explaining what some of the words meant. The value of the content was lost. The book is not written for a child to easily understand which is ashame because the stories in general are very meaningful.