Take your children to faraway lands...visit long-ago times...encounter giants and heroes, ghost and witches...adventure with children both naughty and nice... For the first time ever, the best African-American stories to read aloud to your children have been compiled in this unique volume. It's full of African legend and lore, traditional songs and poetry as well as current biographies of African-American heroes and haunting stories from the days of slavery. Each story, which can be read in about 10 minutes, will captivate and educate children of all ages and background. (Parents too!) As befits a culture with a special talent for storytelling, the classic myths and fables captivate a child's vivid imagination while teaching important life lessons. The fairy tales are filled with bracing heroes and intriguing adventures, while the biographies abound with stories of people whose real-life experiences are an inspiration to us all. The chapters on history and slavery contain important and essential moments in African-American culture. Classic and modern-day excerpts appear from favorites such as Sounder, A Walk in Their Shoes and The Slave Dancer. The poetry and song chapters contains pieces such as The Sweet and Sour Animal Book by Langston Hughesm and many others rich in tradition and pride and familiar in their rhyme, rhythm and dignity. There may be no more rewarding family activity than reading stories aloud to your children—at bedtime or any other time. With this carefully prepared selection of literature, parents can introduce their children to the fun and magic, excitement and surprises of great storytelling and the great African-American traditions through history. Includes: - Why the Chameleon Shakes His Head - A Quarrel Between the Earth and the Sky - The Greedy Woman Becomes a Woodpecker - The Magic Bones - Why Brer Wasp Never Laughs - Hunger, Rice and Cassava - Pemba and the Python and the Friendly Rat - Black Heroes of the American Revolution - The Slave Dancer - Swing Low Sweet Chariot - African-American Inventors - For the Life of Laetitia And many more stories, legends, fairy tales, songs, poems and biographies. - from Amzon