ENORA AND THE BLACK CRANE

An Aboriginal Australian draws on his ethnic traditions for both story and illustrative style. In the beginning, Enora (``Arone'' reversed?) lives in a tropical paradise where all the birds are black, white, and gray. One day, he follows a mysterious band of shimmering colors into the forest, where the colors touch each bird, transforming its plumage. Because his people doubt his story, Enora kills a crane to show them; for this transgression, he himself becomes a crane—with black feathers. The story, somewhat similar to the Arawak legend retold in Troughton's How the Birds Changed Their Feathers (1976), is distinguished by utterly original full-page art in black, white, and ocher on a brick-red ground. The long-limbed human figures are hairless and earless, with round eyes and mouths and vertical lines as noses. Large areas are textured with stippling, cross-hatching, or herringboning. Many shapes have double outlines, as if the lines have been incised into red pottery. A dramatically unusual book. (Picture book. 5-10)