Amazon Category:  Children Publisher: ORCHARD BOOKS ISBN-10:  0531086615 Type: Fiction Pages: 32 Copyright: Jan 1 1994 ABOUT A LITTLE WILD BOY ON A WEST INDIAN ISLAND AND A TWO-HEADED MONSTER. Lively words and striking oil paintings show what happens when a young boy is brave before he is wise. Excerpt Once upon a time, on a little rocky island in the Caribbean Sea, there lived a boy and his grandmother. This boy, Tukama, was very wild. Instead of helping his grandmother carry the coal, fetch water, and dig up potatoes in the yeard, he'd run off and play. He'd stay away all day, until it was dark outside,

Kirkus Reviews
From St.Thomas, a cautionary tale about a heedless boy who narrowly escapes being eaten by a two-headed giant when he beguiles the giant's wife with his music...Tukama's bouncy little songs are repeated so often that listeners will quickly learn them. Saint James's oil paintings combines large areas of bold, uninflected color...an outstanding introduction to a less well-known folklore.

Publishers Weekly
Children will recognize elements of such classics as Jack and the Beanstalk in this folktale from the Antilles...Debut illustrator Saint James lays down swaths of bold colors...Glowing reds, yellows and blues will prove especially alluring.

Horn Book Magazine
Illustrated by Synthia Saint James. Retold ina flowing, polished style well suited to oral interpretation, the story of Tukama, the boy who preferred playing his flute to helping his grandmother, is a gift to storytellers...The handsome stylized oil paintings, emphasizing basic shapes, are accompaniments to rather than partners in the storytelling process, making this more a story with illustrations than a picture book.