John Henry

Ragina Shearer
5653 Multicultural Children’s and Young Adult Literature
Book Review – African American

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lester, Julius. 1994. JOHN HENRY. Ill. by Jerry Pinkney. New York, New York. ISBN 0-590-53936-1

2. PLOT SUMMARY
A mythical infant was born who grew to adulthood, the day he was born. He helped his father improve their house and set off to do one good deed after the other. He goes into the town and challenges a town grump to a race. “Let’s have a race. You on your horse. Me on my legs. If you and your horse win, you can work me as hard as you want for a whole year. If I win, you have to be nice for a year.” John Henry won and the grump was now nice. He set off and amazed people with his strength and work abilities knocking down boulders and building roads. Finally, he hammered through a mountain successfully and died. It is said that his body was buried at the White House and if you are very quiet at night you can still hear him singing, “I got a rainbow, Ringgg, Ringggg…”

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS (INCLUDING CULTURAL MARKERS)
This is a folktale re-told by Jerry Pinkney, it reflects present day with references to the sun flossing, “The sun yawned, washed its face, flossed and brushed its teeth, and hurried up over the horizon.” Also the present day is revealed as John Henry helps his father, “…rebuild the porch he had busted through, added a wing onto the house with an indoor swimming pool and one of them jacutzis.”

Pinkney has illustrated with detailed pictures that represent various races with the struggle of hard work implied in their facial expressions. The coloring and lighting are authentically done. In the first seen of his home town the buildings look like a western town of the 1800’s and the people in this scene are dressed in that time period also. The clothes from the middle of the book on however appear to represent a time period around the mid 1900’s, where as the ideas if indoor swimming pools and jacutzis are a more present day phenomena. A present day White House is shown in an evening picture at the end of the story.

John Henry’s speech reflects black vernacular language as he sang, “ It ain’t gon’ rain, No, it ain’t gon’ rain.” Other speech reflects western uneducated speech such as “Don’t make me no never mind.”

4. REVIEW EXCERPT (S)
Caldecott Honor Book

Starred BOOKLIST: “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.”
Starred HORN BOOK: “Pinkney's evocative illustrations -- especially the landscapes, splotchy and impressionistic, yet very solid and vigorous -- are little short of magnificent.”
KIRKUS REVIEW: “John smoked the drill, but his big heart burst in the process.”
PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY: “A great American hero comes fully to life in this epic retelling filled with glorious, detailed watercolors.”

5. CONNECTIONS
Great for read alouds, written for grades K-5. Helps children see that anything may be possible if you work towards it.

Other books illustrated by Jerry Pinkney:

Pinkney, Gloria Jean. IN THE FOREST OF YOUR REMEMBRANCE. Ill. by Jerry Pinkney and Brian Pickney, photography by Myles C. Pinkney. ISBN 10: 0-8037-2643-0
Pinkney, Jerry. LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. ISBN 10: 0-316-01355-2
Pinkney, Jerry. NOAH’S ARK. ISBN 10: 1-58717-201-1
Pinkney, Gloria Jean. THE SUNDAY OUTING. ISBN 10: 0-8037-1198-0