John Henry

by Jerry Pinkney, Julius Lester

1994John Henry (Legendary character)FolkloreAfrican AmericansLegendsBlacks

5.0

Open Library

About this book

Retells the life of the legendary African American hero who raced against a steam drill to cut through a mountain.

Themes & subjects

John Henry (Legendary character)FolkloreAfrican AmericansLegendsBlacksJuvenile fiction

First published 1994

Setting

United States

About the authors

Jerry Pinkney

22 December 1939 – 20 October 2021

Jerry Pinkney (December 22, 1939 – October 20, 2021) was an American illustrator and writer of children's literature. Pinkney illustrated over 100 books since 1964, including picture books, nonfiction titles and novels. Pinkney's works addressed diverse themes and were usually done in watercolors. In 1994, Pinkney obtained the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for the book John Henry and he has received five Coretta Scott King Awards for illustration. In 2010, he received the Caldecott Medal for his book The Lion & the Mouse. His book A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation (2019), illustrated by Pinkney and written by Barry Wittenstein, won the Orbis Pict…