TOWER TO HEAVEN
adapted by Ruby Dee & illustrated by Jennifer Bent
Actress Dee tells a traditional tale from Ghana. After garrulous old Yaa, long the village intermediary with Onyankopon, the sky god, drives him up to heaven by enthusiastically waving her pestle as she speaks, she tries to retrieve him by stacking up mortars. Sure that she's just one mortar short of her goal, she calls for another from the bottom of the pile, but no matter how many times neighbors oblige she never gets closer.... Bent, who illustrated Agard's Calypso Alphabet (1989), uses a similar dramatic style here, her intense colors defined by active, broad black line. An appealing presentation of a wise, witty tale. (Folklore/Picture book. 4-10)