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Summary
Summary
Once there was a little boy who played the ukelele. Wherever he'd go he'd play,Clink, clunk, clonk.His father was a magician. Wherever he'd go, he'd make things disappear,Zoop! Zoop!Soon the townspeople grew tired of the boy's noise and his father's tricks, and banished both of them to the edge of town.There they lived, until one day the terrible giant Abiyoyo appeared. He was as tall as a tree, and it was said that he could eat people up. Everyone was terrified, except the boy and his father, and they came up with a plan to save the town...Peter Seeger's storysong, made up for his own children, finds its perfect match in Michael Hays's masterful paintings. Together they make a richly vivid and exciting story.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3 The words in this story-song flow along with the same ease and naturalness as Seeger's well-known telling on the recording, Abiyoyo and Other Story Songs (Folkways, 1967). There are only minor changes in this version, and the style reflects an oral rather than a literary tradition as Seeger switches from past to present tense in the text. Seeger combines his sense of humor and drama to turn disturbing events to high-spirited fun, as a father and son, turned out by their neighbors as troublemakers, use the very objects that bother peoplethe boy's clinking-clonking ukelele and the father's magic wandto obliviate Abiyoyo, monster on the loose, and so come back into community favor. The tale contains levels of meaning and powerful metaphors for those who choose to pursue them. If Hays' oil-on-linen illustrations are not always successful, it may be that they seem too studied when matched with Seeger's spontaneous, colloquial style. For example, the father is a magician in the simplest sense, yet Hays renders a ``magic shop'' in the background, with doves, rabbits, silk hatsnot the stuff of most folk tales. In peopling the village, too, he seems to be laboring to make a global statement, surrounding the black boy and his father with people of all races, places, beliefs. His Abiyoyo is a shadowy, looming figure against the blood-red sky, at first a faceless force, growing larger, and finally a towering glaring figure full of terrible witless energy. What is surprising about this Abiyoyo is the lack of earthiness. He is not sinew and muscle, but an automaton with a metallic gleam, the huge overalls he wears seeming an incongruous folksy touch. Still, there are also some very fine illustrations here, and this is a book worthy of attention. It merits a wide audience. Susan Powers, Berkeley Carroll Street School, Brooklyn (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Folksinger, musician and storyteller Seeger first told this story-song to his children over 20 years ago and has now written it as a book. It's based on a South African lullaby and folksong, yet it's too rollicking and exciting to lull a child to sleep. A ukulele-playing boy and his magician father are always getting into mischief, so they are banished to the edge of their town. There they have an opportunity to redeem themselves when Abiyoyo, a horrible, people-eating giant approaches the village. The story is so lyrical that Seeger's voice can be heard on every page. Hays, in his first picture book, creates a beautiful multicultural village. His sea of many-colored faces and costumes is exhilarating and expressive. The giant Abiyoyo is massive and jagged-toothed, but childlike and nonthreatening. The book is a triumph of storytelling and art. (All ages) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A boy and his father are banished because the father, a magician, has a mischievous habit of making things vanish. But when the monster Abiyoyo appears, devouring such large items as cows, the boy plays a song (Abiyoyo) on his ukelele to make the monster dance; then the father makes Abiyoyo disappear and all is forgiven. Monster stories are always popular. The charm of this one (based on a South African lullaby and folk tale) lies in Seeger's wry understatement coupled with Hays' outstanding illustrations. His bold, highly organized designs glow with sunny blues and greens; the monster, satisfyingly grotesque, is all gray facets, machine-man gone mad. And the villagers are an international, interracial group, suggesting that the story is also a parable. The song, with music, is included. A splendid introduction for Hays; his next books will be eagerly awaited. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.