William Faulkner for Children?

Most readers will know William Faulkner as a prolific writer of southern Gothic novels, a Hollywood screenwriter, winner of a Nobel Prize in Literature, and several Pulitzers. His best known works are The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying.

In 1995 the Estate of William J. Faulkner released the children’s book Brer Tiger and the Big Wind. As with most stories in the African American folk story genre there is a morality play at work. A serious drought has came to the land, leaving the land barren with no crops to eat. The selfish Brer Tiger won’t allow the other animals to eat of the pears growing on the only tree left that produces fruit. Leave it to Brer rabbit to lead the other animals in a revolt against Brer Tiger and to show him the error of his ways.

A wonderful and humorous story in the African American folk story tradition, filled with beautiful illustrations of the animals by Roberta Wilson, Brer Tiger and the Big Wind is an excellent way to introduce your children to a literary giant.

Brer Tiger and the Big Wind

By William J. Faulkner

1995 Morrow Junior Books, New York