Long ago, when the earth had not settled in its turning and the stars had not found their places in the night sky, there were three kingdoms.

The first was the kingdom of the forest, ruled by the mighty Elephant. The second was the kingdom of the sea, ruled by the ferocious Shark. And the third was the kingdom of the air, ruled by the powerful Hawk.

And then there were the People, who needed the forest and sea and air for survival. But they were small and weak--no match for the beast who dominated the kingdoms. Yet the People had a gift--the gift of storytelling.

With powerful prose and bold illustrations, Walter Dean Myers and Ashley Bryan tell how the People used their gift to outwit the rulers of the three kingdoms, making this triumphant story one worth reading again and again.

ANNOTATION

Long ago, Elephant ruled the forest, Shark ruled the sea, and Hawk ruled the sky, until the People discovered a unique power that enabled them to dominate the other creatures.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Long ago, when the earth had not settled in its turning and the stars had not found their places in the night sky, there were three kingdoms.

The first was the kingdom of the forest, ruled by the mighty Elephant. The second was the kingdom of the sea, ruled by the ferocious Shark. And the third was the kingdom of the air, ruled by the powerful Hawk.

And then there were the People, who needed the forest and sea and air for survival. But they were small and weak—no match for the beast who dominated the kingdoms. Yet the People had a gift—the gift of storytelling.

With powerful prose and bold illustrations, Walter Dean Myers and Ashley Bryan tell how the People used their gift to outwit the rulers of the three kingdoms, making this triumphant story one worth reading again and again.

Author Biography: Walter Dean Myers is the author of many highly acclaimed books, including Scorpions, a 1989 Newbery Honor Book; Now Is Your Time: The African-American Struggle for Freedom, winner of the 1992 Coretta Scott King Author Award; The Mouse Rap, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults; and Brown Angels: An Album of Pictures and Verse. In 1994, he received the ALA's Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults. Mr. Myers lives in New Jersey with his family.In His Own Words...

I am a product of Harlem and of the values, color, toughness and caring that I found there as a child. I learned my flat jump shot in the church basement and got my first kiss during recess at Bible school. I played the endless street games kids played in the pre-television days and paid enough attention to candy andjunk food to dutifully alarm my mother.

From my foster parents, the Deans, I received the love that was ultimately to strengthen me, even when I had forgotten its source. It was my foster mother, a half Indian-half German woman, who taught me to read, though she herself was barely literate.

I had a speech difficulty but didn't view it as anything special. It wasn't necessary for me to be much of a social creature once I discovered books. Books took me, not so much to foreign lands and fanciful adventures, but to a place within myself that I have been constantly exploring ever since.

The George Bruce Branch of the public Library was my most treasured place. I couldn't believe my luck in discovering what I enjoyed most — reading — was free. And I was tough enough to carry the books home through the streets without too many incidents.

At sixteen it seemed a good idea to leave school, and so I did. On my seventeenth birthday I joined the army. After the army there were jobs — some good, some bad, few worth mentioning. Leaving school seemed less like a good idea.

Writing for me has been many things. It was a way to overcome the hindrance of speech problems as I tried to reach out to the world. It was a way of establishing my humanity in a world that often ignores the humanity of those in less favored positions. It was a way to make a few extra dollars when they were badly needed.

What I want to do with the writing keeps changing, too. Perhaps I just get clearer in what it is I am doing. I'm sure that after I'm dead someone will lay it all out nicely. I'd hate to see what kind of biography my cat, Askia, would write about me. Probably something like "Walter Dean Myers had enormous feet, didn't feed me on time, and often sat in my favorite chair." At any rate, what I think I'm doing now is rediscovering the innocence of children that I once took for granted. I cannot relive it or reclaim it, but I can expose it and celebrate it in the books I write. I really like people — I mean I really like people — and children are some of the best people I know.

I've always felt it a little pretentious to write about yourself, but it's not too bad if you don't write too much.— Walter Dean Myers

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Myers (Brown Angels) and Bryan (Sing to the Sun) make a dynamite team. Here, the hot colors, sweeping lines and stylized figures that characterize Bryan's art form a bold backdrop for the author's equally dramatic original fable. Long ago, Myers writes, the world was divided into three kingdoms: earth, ruled by Elephant; sea, ruled by Shark; and air, ruled by Hawk. The three quarrel mightily as to who is greatest, and they laugh at the People, who, they say, exist only to do their bidding. With time, the People outwit the haughty trio by learning from the stories they tell around the fire at night. The tale of a child catching a butterfly at rest, for instance, sparks a plan to capture Hawk in the baobab tree. In the end, the People realize they have the greatest power of all: "the gift of story and the wisdom it brings." Using repetition and a stately cadence, Myers invests his prose with a timeless air; together, he and Bryan provide for a memorable read-aloud experience. Ages 6-9. (May)

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

The power of a shared story, intelligence and cooperation are the messages conveyed in Myers' original fable. He begins by telling how the earth was divided into three kingdoms that were ruled by Elephant, Shark, and Hawk. They each claim to be the most powerful beast, but when people appear on earth, their combined efforts to use what they learned in storytelling help them overcome their fear of the beasts and the resulting oppression. Bright, bold, primitive art are a perfect match for the text in this unusual-sized picture book.