Shadow lives in the forest...
It goes forth at night
to prowl around the fires.
It even likes to mingle
with the dancers...
Shadow...
It waves with the grasses,
curls up at the foot of trees...

But in the African experience Shadow is much more. The village storytellers and shamans of an Africa that is passing into memory called forth for the poet Blaise Cendrars an eerie image, shifting between the beliefs of the present and the spirits of the past.

Shadow...
It does not cry out,
it has no voice...
It can cast a spell over you...
It follows man everywhere,
even to war...

Marcia Brown's stunning illustrations in collage, inspired by her travels in Africa, evoke the atmosphere and drama of a life now haunted, now enchanted by Shadow.

Shadow

ANNOTATION

Free verse evocation of the eerie, shifting images of Shadow which represents the beliefs and ghosts of the past and is brought to life wherever there is light, fire, and a storyteller.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Here the lore of African stories and storytellers that inspired Cendrars is conveyed by strong use of pure color, by eerie wisps of superimposed images, and by strong silhouettes, all in handsome double-page spreads that are remarkable in their composition."--Bulletin, Center for Children's Books. Caldecott Medal; ALA Notable Children's Book.