KASHO AND THE TWIN FLUTES

Pinkney's fluent soft pencil drawings -- of people in motion (or dynamically at rest), splendidly poised animals, harmonious African huts and objects and rich African fabrics -- add considerable texture and vitality to Robinson's tale of happy-go-lucky Kasho ""who could think of nothing but playing his twin flutes"" and desires only to play like his father, Shopeh, who charms the sacred snakes at the mountain spirit festival. Kasho's mother despairs of his ever leaving off the flutes long enough to get his chores done, but one day when the poisoned mamba snake he has brought home to charm escapes and prepares to attack her, Kasho plays in earnest to soothe and distract the creature. It takes a back-up from Shopeh, just home from the mountain, to completely charm and capture the mamba, but as Kasho says when his father, impressed, predicts that ""one year soon"" they will play together at the festival -- ""A man does not climb a steep hill in a hurry.