From: Vicky Smith <vjsmith>
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1999 19:56:49 +0000

My absolute, hands-down, no questions favorite of 1999 has to be What a Truly Cool World by Julius Lester. It's a terrific example of African-American Signification--that is, exploring themes and tropes from earlier literature and making of them something wholly new. For those who are not familiar with it already, Lester takes as his foundation a story from Zora Neale Hurston's Of Mules and Men, which is a variant of the Biblical Creation story: the story of how butterflies came to be. In addition to being a lovely riff on the story of the Creation--the description of the first singing is perfectly beautiful--it is just a hoot.

The touches Lester includes are wonderful: God's wife, Mrs. God, is named Irene, but God's first name remains a mystery, even to his faithful secretary Bruce. Bruce experiments one day, calling him
"George." "What did you call me?" asks God, and Bruce never tries again. This doesn't stop him from addressing the Supreme Being as
"Might Maker" and "Fearless Fixer." And Shaniqua, the Angel in Charge of Everybody's Business, is priceless ("Go on with your bad self, God!"). It may seem irreverant (and one reviewer on amazon.com is predictably outraged), but it seems to me to foster a wonderfully intimate relationship with the Creator. Honestly, who can read it and not love it?

Orlando Cepeda (of Nappy Hair fame) does the illustrations, and they are the perfect counterpoint to Lester's text. He includes a multicultural cast of angels, but the main characters are all black, which is a refreshing change from all the old white men in sheets we are accustomed to.

Cheers. Vicky Smith Children's Librarian McArthur Public Library (207)284A81 270 Main Street http://www.mcarthur.lib.me.us Biddeford, ME 04005 vjsmith at mcarthur.lib.me.us
Received on Wed 08 Dec 1999 01:56:49 PM CST