The entire story is culturally authentic to African Americans just because it is a folktale specific to this culture. These are the days of the Old West, the Wild West. The text confirms this later in the story, that it takes place somewhere around West Virginia. It is immediately established that this story takes place in the West. The illustrations set the time frame for this. John Henry is known for building the railroad. John Henry is an African American folktale so well known within the culture, that when my husband saw the book, he automatically recited, “John Henry was a steel driving man.” The illustrations play an important part in this story. He wins a wager against the meanest man in town, finishes building a road smack through a boulder, and hammers faster than a steam drill straight through a mountain during the building of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad through West Virginia. John Henry is a gentle giant born from ordinary parents. (Oct.This book is a version of the African American folktale that has been told and sung for generations. This may not supplant more traditional retellings, such as Terry Small's The Legend of John Henry, but it is a triumph of collaboration from the creators of the noted Uncle Remus retellings. As only one example, the animal witnesses of his birth reappear throughout, most notably to watch John Henry's funeral train pass by. What matters is how well you do your living.'' This carefully crafted updating begs to be read aloud for its rich, rhythmic storytelling flow, and the suitably oversize illustrations amplify the text. His greatest feat is, of course, in his battle against the steam drill, as he races the machine to cut through ``a mountain as big as hurt feelings.'' He dies (``he had hammered so hard and so fast and so long that his big heart had burst''), but the onlookers understand that ``dying ain't important. Other episodes trace the growth of his generous spirit. As a child he helps his father by adding ``a wing onto the house with an indoor swimming pool and one of them jacutzis''-and that's just before lunch. From his momentous birth, when all the animals come to see him and the sun won't go to bed, John Henry works wonders. A great American hero comes fully to life in this epic retelling filled with glorious, detailed watercolors.
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