THE KNEE-HIGH MAN

by William--Adapt. Miller ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1996

A traditional African-American folktale retold by the author of Zora Hurston and the Chinaberry Tree (1994, not reviewed), about a little man who wants to become bigger, louder, and meaner than he is. The horse and the bull give him wrong-headed advice; he nearly abandons all hope before an owl shows him that everyone looks knee-high from the top of a tree. The moral is old, but its formulation here is unusually well-told, embellished with selected colloquialisms. The illustrations have a mysterious glassy glow; the knee-high man, however, doesn't really come across as knee-high.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1996

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 30

Publisher: Gibbs Smith

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1996

Categories: CHILDREN'S