Head, Body, Legs: A Story from Liberia by Won-Ldy Paye & Margaret Lippert (Illustrated by: Julie Paschkis)
Reviewed by: Chris Singer
About the authors:
Won-Ldy Paye is a multi-talented artist from the Dan people of northeastern Liberia, West Africa. He is a member of the Tlo Ker Mehn, the class of professional Dan entertainers who are keepers of the oral tradition. He was trained by his grandmother-Gowo to remember and retell the stories of the Dan people. Some of the published credits of Won-Ldy Paye include The Talking Vegetables, Head, Body, Legs: A Story from Liberia, Why Leopard Has Spots: Dan Stories from Liberia.
Margaret Lippert is the author of 22 books, including 9 anthologies and 13 books for children and young adults. Much of Lippert’s body of work draws from the storytelling and folklore traditions of Africa, Latin America, and Asia. After moving from New York to the Seattle area in 1990, she began a collaboration with Won-Ldy Paye, a Liberian storyteller from the Dan tribe tradition. Her most recent books have grown out of this partnership, and are co-authored by Paye. She lives on Mercer Island, Washington.
About the illustrator:
Julie Paschkis is a painter and illustrator, specializing in children’s books and posters. She was inspired by the Asafo flags of the Fante people from coastal Ghana while illustrating this book. Julie lives in Seattle, Washington.
About the book:
Head is all alone. Body bounces along, Arms swing about, and Legs stand around. They can’t do much by themselves, so they try to join together. But how? Should Head attach to the belly button? Should Legs stand on Arms? If only they can work together, everything will be perfect. Straight from the oral tradition comes this magical retelling of a creation story from Liberia.
My take on the book:
Head, Body, Legs is the wonderful retelling of a Liberian creation folktale and a terrific example of the oral storytelling tradition. I am also very pleased that it is my first book completed for my Read Around the World Challenge!
Young children are going to love this beautifully illustrated story of how head, arms, body and legs met and worked together to become one complete body. Although perhaps a little young for this story, my daughter really enjoyed pointing at the body parts she knew! Readers will undoubtedly giggle at the difficulty the body parts have upon coming together, such as when head becomes attached to belly button and arms get attached to legs. The lesson for children to take from this story is that the reason the body parts are able to eventually fit together pr