"Tanto, tanto, I'm wild and free. / Grandma's stories can't stop me." So begins the song of a brave little boy who ignores his grandma's warnings of a two-headed monster. He knows he can charm even a multi-headed giant with his flute playing. And mostly he's right-until he meets the two-headed monster's older brother, who uses the little boy's bravado against him as he encourages him to come closer and closer so that he can grab him and put him in his sack. The giant orders his cook, Jane, to prepare the boy for dinner, and Jane finds the little boy's song so irresistible that he manages to escape. This lively retelling of a folktale from the Antilles is written in a lilting style that begs to be read aloud. The vivid tempera and watercolor illustrations offer a rainbow of hues suggesting a tropical setting. (Ages 4-7)

From celebrated Coretta Scott King Award winner Ashley Bryan comes a lavishly rendered cautionary tale of fearlessness and many-headed monsters in this toe-tapping picture book.

There was a little boy who knew no fear...

Nope, no fear at all. Not even when his grandma warns him of the giants—the two-headed giant and his three-headed brother, that is. So one day, he slips away. He just takes off and leaves his grandma behind. After all, what does he care? He’s got his mangoes and the sunshine and his flute. And he isn’t scared one bit.

But our boy isn’t really bad, you know, just wild. And soon he misses his grandma. So he turns around, and runs right into—those monsters. He’s about to discover that he may indeed have something to fear…their terrible, horrible singing voices!