#434 of 1001 · October 8, 2021

What a resoundingly lovely book is Abiyoyo, a Bantu folktale and lullaby retold by Pete Seeger and illustrated Michael Hays. A father and son unwisely provoke the ire of their neighbors. The boy constantly plays the ukulele, irritating the adults around him. The father owns a magic wand with which he can cause things to vanish into thin air, but he uses his incredible power to play obnoxious practical jokes, relieving acquaintances of their tools, furniture, and food. At their wits’ end, the people finally expel the father and son from their village. However, soon afterward, a giant named Abiyoyo, long thought to be a figment of lore, appears and starts devouring every living thing in his path. As the rest of the town cowers in fear, it is up to the two outcasts to tire the monster out with an irresistible ukukele tune and make him disappear with a flick of the wand. Now hailed as heroes, they happily rejoin their community. Seeger’s language, deeply respectful of the South African source material, shines with the potency of oral storytelling, his lively sentences marked by magnetic phrases such as, “One day, one day, the sun rose blood red over the hill.” Hays sets the tale in a world seemingly out of time, with the town populated by people of all races and ethnicities dressed in the fashion of many disparate regions and periods, from saris to kimonos, from Stetsons to yarmulkes. Contrasting with this colorful bunch is the grotesque appearance of the eponymous giant himself, squat, craggy, lumbering, and disheveled. Together, the two artists craft a remarkable story that celebrates magic, danger, and the loving bond between father and son. #son #father #ukulele #wand #giant #troublemaker #magic #southafrica #southafrican #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbooks #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks