THE HIRED HAND:
An African American Folktale
by Robert D. San Souci
Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
[Ages 5 up) hardcover
Full color artwork done with pencil and watercolor.
40 pages

Hardcover
Dial Books for Young Readers, 1997
ISBN 0-8037-1296-0 (trade)
ISBN 0-8037-1297-9 (lib.bdg.)

Paperback
Puffin / Penguin Putnam, 2005
ISBN: 0-1424-0450-0

Synopsis
At a busy sawmill in Virginia, a stranger tells Old Sam he wants to learn the trade. Old Sam happily hires the man. His son, Young Sam is glad to have someone to boss around. But when Young Sam tries to imitate the new hand in the name of greed, he causes an old woman's death. When he repents, the new hand finds a way to make everything right again. Full color.

Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
Ages 5-9. Old Sam, the owner of a prospering sawmill, hires additional help because his own son is so lazy. The "New Hand" is conscientious and willing to work for free in order to learn the trade--a fact that Young Sam is quick to exploit. When an elderly customer arrives complaining of back pain, the New Hand sends the Sams away and performs a miracle, making the man young and healthy again. Later, Young Sam (who secretly observed the transformation) tries to repeat the trick on the customer's wife, with disastrous results. Just as Young Sam is being carted off to jail for murder, the New Hand reappears, and, satisfied that Sam has learned his lesson, resurrects the woman, enabling Sam to go free. San Souci and Pinkney's latest collaboration is based on an African American folktale first recorded in 1871 by a black Virginian. Pinkney's characteristic watercolor illustrations portray one of several small Virginia towns where free blacks lived, owned property, and worked in the late 1700s. He successfully blends historically realistic details with timeless folkloric magic, and he enhances San Souci's smooth retelling in the process. An obvious choice for primary story hours, this will also make a welcome addition to African American folklore and history units. Kay Weisman

From Kirkus Reviews , April 15, 1997
An African-American folktale from Southern oral tradition, first recorded in the late 19th century. Down Virginia way, Young Sam, the lazy, no-account son of a sawmill owner, has his life turned upside-down when a hired hand shows up asking for work. Young Sam spies on New Hand, and discovers that the man has the power to rejuvenate an old farmer with sawdust, water, and a drop of blood accompanied by magical incantations. Young Sam exploits his knew knowledge and accidentally kills the woman he's trying to make young, landing himself in court. What begins as a gripping, well-told tale starts to sound like a morality play, as Young Sam repents his lazy ways. Born as it is of pure desperation, his conversion (for readers) strains credibility. But New Hand believes Young Sam and bails him out by presenting to the court the woman who was supposed to have been dead. Inspired by a small Virginia anti-slavery town for its setting and drawing from 18th-century costume with the influence of European fairy-tale art, Pinkney works his magic by blending both character and drama with the hushed tones of history. (Picture book/folklore. 5-9) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
THE HIRED HAND explores the danger associated with stealing someone's magic . . . The story spins around a New Hand at a sawmill who returns youthfulness to an old man, and a miller's son who tries unsuccessfully to duplicate that feat for profit . . . . Libraries looking for African-American folktales should consider this title and bask in the splendor of its delivery.

Midwest Book Review
Caldecott winning artist Jerry Pinkney's pictures spice San Souci's story of a new worker who joins a father and son's sawmill operation, but who displays a touch of magic as he works. The story line is complicated and therefore recommended for older picturebook readers, but the unexpected twists and turns and appeal enhance an outstanding presentation.

From Horn Book
In an African-American folktale set "down Virginia way" a century before the Emancipation Proclamation, a successful, free black sawmill owner takes on a hired hand at the instigation of his lazy son. The New Hand turns out to have remarkable powers-able with some sawdust, water, a bit of blood, and magical incantations to turn an old man into wood and back again, cured of the "misery" in his back and made young, to boot. Seeing a way to a quick fortune, the lazy son tries to duplicate the feat, with disastrous results. An appended author's note not only provides a source for the tale but also notes its relationship to Greek and Roman variants. The illustrations, as explained in the artist's note, extend the African-American folkloric tradition, setting the plot in a particular time and place without sacrificing the sense of magic and wonder. Executed in pencil and watercolor, the pictures are visually exciting testaments to the role of the artist as historian. They range from the magnificent panorama of the title page, a homage to American landscape painting, to superb character studies in which one is as aware of the personalities as the musculature beneath their costumes