Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 26, 1992 TAG: 9201260251
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: D4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BOOKS IN BRIEF
Virginia Folk Legends. Edited by Thomas E. Barden. University Press of Virginia. (price not listed)\ From the tale of how vote-buying got started in Wise County to Aunt Lucy's bewitched cow in Montgomery County, this is a particularly appealing book for Southwest Virginians.
Thomas E. Barden has taken much of the work of the Virginia Writers Project from 1937-42 - work that had been forgotten by many - and drawn from it this collection of folk legends. The project, designed as an anti-Depression measure, did much to preserve the heritage of many states, particularly the old stories and the memory of the people who told them.
Barden seems to concentrate with unexplained zeal on the stories taken from Southwestern Virginia. Wise, for example, has more than 60; the next highest numbers, only nine each, belong to Danville, Prince George and Prince William. Roanoke has only two - Mrs. Fannie Wilson's story of how a Yankee drank from a poisoned well, and the aforementioned bewitched cow, a tale collected in Roanoke from one I.M. Warren.
A professor of English at the University of Toledo, Barden introduces his book with a substantial academic essay on legends and folklore which some will find informative, and others an unnecessary exercise of apology for the racial nature of some of the stories. Political correctness is everywhere, it seems.
The book is also a tribute not just to the tale-tellers, but to the largely forgotten writers who collected and preserved the stories. Each is credited whenever possible.
- ROBERT HILLDRUP
\ The Bear On the Moon. By Joanne Ryder. Illustrated by Carol Lacey. (ages 6 and up) Morrow Junior Books. $14.95.
Joanne Ryder has conjured up a man-in-the-moon story only this time it is a bear-in-the-moon. She writes of polar bears in arctic waters in a story of creation that will charm all young folks who are fascinated by the moon. The Carol Lacey pictures are ice blue and ice white and ice gray to give the illusion of cold and sparkle. The pictures are easier to follow than the story so a reader may wish to start with pointing out the activities in the pictures before venturing forth with the written words. Some 6-year-olds will be ready for such a story but others are apt to find it too detailed and lengthy. This is one that can be successful for the right child.
- PEGGY C. DAVIS
\ Peter and the Wolf. Retold and illustrated by Michele Lemieux. Morrow Junior Books. $13.95.
I wonder if Sergei Prokofiev had any idea what he had done when he wrote "Peter and the Wolf" to introduce children to the orchestra. The work is popular, and editions fill the shelves of tony bookshops. In this newest publication, Michele Lemieux has used her illustrations of wonderful colors instead of music notes to create just the right aura for the well-known story. The mustards and purples and every hue of blue and rust and rose and gold and gray and every shade of green and umber and brown fill the pages as Peter bravely catches the wolf. There is no doubt that this is a story from Russia and children should respond gleefully, if they are not too attached to ducks.
- PEGGY C. DAVIS
\ The Last Mogul.
By Adrian Havill. St. Martin's. $21.95.
Here is another book written without permission of the Biography Authorization Board. This one describes the public and private life of Jack Cook. Who is Jack Cook, you ask? Withholding his identity is what this book deserves but Jack Cook, a.k.a. Jack Kent Cook, owns the Washington Redskins. Why this ownership deserves a book, I don't know, but unauthorized biographers need only a whiff of sex or scandal to begin work.
Sex and scandal abound in this book, and sex and scandal will probably sell it. I recently reviewed a fine biography of the radio pioneers Lee de Forest, Edwin Armstrong and David Sarnoff. These men changed the world and deserve to be studied. Jack Cook bought radio stations and sports franchises, hardly the ingredients of a memorable life. The Biography Authorization Board was correct in withholding its seal of approval. Leave this one on the shelf.
- LARRY SHIELD
\ AUTHOR Robert Hilldrup is a Richmond writer and former newspaperman. Peggy C. Davis reviews books regularly for this page. Larry Shield writes software.