John Henry Book Review

 















1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lester, J. (1994). John Henry. Puffin Books. ISBN: 978-0-78571-862-8

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

This African American folk tale tells of the larger-than-life John Henry. It is based on the ballad of John Henry that Julius Lester used to sing as a former folk singer. Always helping and determined, John Henry contributes wherever he goes. Threatened to be outdone by a steam drill, John takes on the largest task of his life.


3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

In John Henry, the characters are very authentic and culturally accurate physically. As the main character, John is strong and uses manual labor to assist others. He is enduring and determined. He always fights for what’s right. His parents, townspeople, and the railroad workers are all depicted with the correct clothing, hair, and accessories for the era of the book. The black characters have hairstyles and textures that are accurate. Their skin tones are correctly represented.

The setting is the Midwest in the a cabin where John is born. When he travels, the landscape of the towns shows horse-drawn buggies and Wild West-type buildings. When depicting his laborious work, the landscape is vast and untouched. This aligns with the railroad expansion west through mountains. 

In this picture book, there are many cultural markers for African Americans. One of the most noticeable is the depiction of John Henry in the exaggerated nature which matches to Brer Rabbit. The storytelling flows like songs sung by slaves in America on plantations as well as freed slaves. Many African Americans helped to build the railroad west and background characters are seen throughout the pages of this descent. There are a few dialect sayings present in the songs John Henry sings while working such as, “It ain’t gon’ rain” and “sho nuf”. 

The pictures of Jerry Pinkney are so detailed that the pictures seem to jump off the pages. How the rainbow is draped like a scarf around John Henry’s shoulders, makes it personified like an extension of him. The richness of the colors is unique for all the characters’ skin tones. The watercolors have a way of creating depth and texture from the landscape to the towns. Pinkney uses warm-toned colors for the characters and cold for the steam drill. 


4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

  • ALA Notable Children's Books, 1995

  • AudioFile, 09/01/99 *

  • Book Links, 05/01/04

  • Booklist

  • Booklist starred, 06/01/94

  • Caldecott Honor, 1995

  • Christian Library Journal, 01/01/97

  • Elementary School Library Collection, 06/01/00

  • Elementary School Library Collection, 01/01/01 *

  • Horn Book Magazine

  • Kirkus Reviews

  • Publishers Weekly

  • Wilson's Children, 10/01/10


Full-Text Reviews
Booklist starred (Vol. 90, No. 19/20 (June 1, 1994))

Ages 4 and up. Based on the popular black folk ballad about the contest between John Henry and the steam drill, this picture-book version is a tall tale and a heroic myth, a celebration of the human spirit. Like Lester's great collections of the Uncle Remus tales, also illustrated by Pinkney, the story is told with rhythm and wit, humor and exaggeration, and with a heart-catching immediacy that connects the human and the natural world. ("This was no ordinary boulder. It was as hard as anger . . . a mountain as big as hurt feelings"). The dramatic climax of the story is set at the time of the building of the railroad through the Allegheny Mountains in West Virginia, but Lester begins with the hero's birth, when all the birds and animals come to see the baby and the sun is so excited it forgets to go to bed. Pinkney's dappled pencil-and-watercolor illustrations capture the individuality of the great working man, who is part of the human community and who has the strength of rock and wind. John Henry swings his hammer so fast, he makes a rainbow around his shoulders, and the pictures show that light everywhere, "shining and shimmering in the dust and grit like hope that never dies."



  • 5. CONNECTIONS

Related books:

Amin, K. (1999). The Adventures of Brer Rabbit and Friends. DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley).  ISBN: 978-0-7566-1813-1


Stevens, J., & Tomasso, R. (2008). Tops and Bottoms. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

 ISBN: 978-0-15-292851-3


Activities:

Research project about legends and how they have shaped history.


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