Brer Rabbit Retold

“As a bona fide delta confabulator, I have long wanted to reclaim [the Brer Rabbit Stories],” writes poet Flowers in his introduction to this exquisitely produced collection of 20 of the oral trickster tales. Flowers’s retellings unfold in a lively assemblage of slang, wordplay, and African-American Vernacular English: “Time was everytime Brer Rabbit see Brer Hawk he talking trash, loudly proclaiming Brer Hawk best stay up there where he belong, else he gon meet up with the thunder of the rabbit. Fist #1 and Fist #2,” begins “Brer Rabbit & the Gold.” Indian folk artist Chitara’s boldly stylized, totemic images of the animals in black, red, and white provide an unusual cross-cultural complement to Flowers’s tales, though text and art seem to operate independently of each other. A CD recording is included, and an accompanying short film is available online. Ages 10–up. (Sept.)