Tailypo! - Hardcover

Grade 2-4-- When a creature invades his cabin, an old black man takes a hatchet and whacks off its tail, thus causing his own demise. Clay's pictures are done in acrylic shades that shift from warm fire-tones like orange and pink to cold, crisp blues and purples. They create a scary and highly graphic accompaniment to this succinctly retold African-American tale. In Joanna Galdone's The Tailypo (Houghton, 1984), Paul Galdone's illustrations are tame and cartoon-comical compared to this realistic, almost gory version. Blood splatters out when the tail is cut off; a frightened owl in a wall clock peeks with one eye as the varmint overcomes the man. Another peculiar, almost macabre touch is a photograph of a woman on the wall that changes expressions and poses throughout the story. Galdone's illustrations leave much to readers' imaginations, while Clay interprets the action literally and skillfully. Wahl's narration is shorter and less lyrical in description than in the earlier version; gone is Galdone's eerie tone and prose through which the suspense is allowed to mount. Because of Clay's illustrations, this new offering is not for the squeamish. --Marianne Pilla, formerly at Upper Dublin Public Library, Dresher, PA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An old man is visited in his lonely cabin by "a Creature with a great , big , long tail." He lops the tail off, cooks it up and gobbles it down--thus earning several nocturnal visits from the Creature, who demands the return of his "tailypo" and finally achieves it by ingesting the old man. Wahl's ( Humphrey's Bear ) lively but vividly gruesome African-American tale is best suited to children at the upper end of the suggested range and to those who can tolerate a scary story. It uses onomatopoeia and repetitions effectively to build tension, and would be especially shivery if read aloud. Clay, making his children's book debut, adds acrylics that are evocative of setting and mood and in some cases quite gory in their own right. Occasionally, however, a predominance of neon pinks and oranges results in a garish rather than supernatural effect. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.