Thief in the Village and Other Stories - James Berry - Hardcover - 1st American ed

The phrases in these stories set in Jamaica are musical in print, even before they are spoken. "I know total-total that if I had my own bike..." Becky tells readers in "Becky and the Wheels-and-Brake Boys," and her determination is established. Berry's writing is liquid and cool; in "Fanso and Granny-Flo" and elsewhere his descriptions are so original that the language is rendered meaningful and new: "Fanso's comings and goings and concerns were so well woven in with his granny's, it was hard to tell he had a big secret worry." How better to express the feelings on a young adult beginning to pull away from childhood? The collection is epiphanic; each story wraps itself around ordinary incidents and transforms them into lore.Berry, James is the author of 'Thief in the Village and Other Stories - James Berry - Hardcover - 1st American ed' with ISBN 9780531057452 and ISBN 0531057453.