Tía Lola, however, knows a language that defies words she quickly charms and befriends all the neighbors. The last thing Miguel wants, as he's trying to fit into a predominantly white community, is a flamboyant aunt who doesn't speak a word of English. When Tía Lola arrives to help the family, Miguel and his hermana, Juanita, have just moved from New York City to Vermont with their recently divorced mother. Renowned Latin American writer Alvarez has created another story about cultural identity, but this time the primary character is 11-year-old Miguel Guzmán. It's hard to envision the shelf-children's or adults'-on which this volume doesn't belong. The Dillons bring luster to an already wonderful project, with polished acrylic portraits on creamy backgrounds the pictures envelop the mythic aspects of the tales without abandoning their roots in ordinary human experience.

Hamilton divides the collection into 'Her Animal Tales,' 'Her Fairy Tales,' Her Supernatural,' 'Her Folkways and Legends,' and 'Her True Tales.' Comments follow each story, offering insights and assurances of authenticity source notes appear in the back.

All the stories collected feature females, but there similarities end a variety of ordinary girls and women, her-vampires, mermaids, and witches inhabit humorous and frightening folktales, accounts of life in slavery taken from oral history collections, and elaborate fairy tales incorporating elements from many traditions into solid, African-American renderings. A volume with as broad appeal as Hamilton's The People Could Fly (1985).

Her Stories by Virginia Hamilton