HOW STORIES CAME INTO THE WORLD: A Folktale from West Africa

Bright-eyed little Mouse, who creeps and watches and knows secrets, is a weaver whose story-pictures ""became her children."" Five of these pourquoi tales (from the Efik Ibibio, the Ekoi, and the Yoruba people) are concisely retold here--concluding with a tale about Lightning, banished to the sky as a mischief-maker, knocking down doors as he goes and letting out all the stories to wander the earth. In what appears to be a resist technique, Troughton has created outstanding illustrations of lively, amusing figures, their rich, subtle colors dramatically outlined in black.