WILEY AND THE HAIRY MAN

Wiley and his mother fool the powerful Hairy Man once, twice, three times, sending him fleeing back into the swamp. Since Molly Bang's 1976 rendition (bearing the same title), this deliciously scary Alabama folktale has become a storyteller favorite—but it has yet to find illustrations that do it justice. Bang's had plenty of character but were small, busy, and pale gray; Pinkney's swirling scratchboard scenes glow with color, but the paint is smeared, the figures static, and the drawing rough to the point of looking unfinished. The creature seems more comical than menacing, a big, cloven-hoofed ogre with hair like rusty steel wool, snaggly teeth, and physical proportions that change from scene to scene. Sierra (see above) and Bang drew from the same original source, and their texts are very similar; use the new as a replacement or alternative to the old—better yet, learn the story and tell it! (Picture book/folklore. 5-7)