MOUNTAIN JACK TALES
adapted by Gail E. Haley & illustrated by Gail E. Haley
Haley invites readers up to Old Poppyseed's cabin on Story Mountain (``Park your car and hike up the path...the pale eyes of things forgotten in the outside world will see your every move'') for eight familiar tales plus a version of ``Molly Whuppie.'' The spirited retellings are salted with backwoods language (glossary appended) and illustrated with wood engravings that, like Haley's picture-book illustrations for ``Jack and the Bean Tree'' and ``Jack and the Fire Dragon,'' are full of energy, comedy, and magical creatures. Evidently feeling that modern readers need some things explained, Haley opens and closes with simply stated observations on folk tales' symbols and truth and on qualities that make traditional Appalachian culture worth preserving, and with a thumbnail sketch of the history and technique of wood-engraving—all enriching the stories. A thoughtful introduction to Jack's adventures, briefer but more inviting than Richard Chase's. (Folklore. 10+)