Introduction: None

Organization: There is a table of contents, but the stories are in no apparent order and are not grouped. Barry Moser's vibrant watercolor illustrations are not necessary for the storytelling. However, having seen them, it is hard to imagine the story without them.

The stories themselves: These stories were meant for telling. Virginia Hamilton adds a voice that is full. It is deep and loving. Most of the stories have a bit of verse or song. Each tale ends with the teller speaking the moral plainly to the children listening. For example, "How Bruh Sparrow and Sis Wren Lost Out" ends, "So, children, here's a leaf from the book of birds: Pick on your own size. For it's no use squabbling over what's too big for you to handle." I think these tales would be perfect for the mid to upper elementary audience as well as for adults.

Source Notes: The Afterword helps readers and tellers know the history and origins of these Southern, African-American tales. The stories in When Birds Could Talk & Bats Could Sing were originally written down by Martha Young who wrote them in the so-called black dialect of the plantation era. It is impossible to tell now which stories she heard from African American's and which she wrote herself. These stories are written in the prose style called cante fable. They include verse or song and end with a moral for children.(1.)

There is an entire page detailing and crediting the book designers and artists who helped put this book together.

(1.) Hamilton, Virginia. When birds could talk & bats could sing : the adventures of Bruh Sparrow, Sis Wren, and their friends / told by Virginia Hamilton ; illustrated by Barry Moser. New York : Blue Sky Press, 1996.

How Bruh Sparrow and Sis Wren Lost Out

Still and Ugly Bat

Blue Jay and Swallow Take the Heat

Bruh Buzzard and Fair Maid

Hummingbird and Little Breeze

When Miss Bat Could Sing

Cardinal and Bruh Deer

Little Brown Wren