"Here are 24 amazing tales that, taken together, tell what might be called "The Story of Ohio." Tales from long ago: the Ice Age, the Moundbuilders, the Shawnee, pioneers, the Civil War. Tales of the Amish, Lake Erie, the Ohio River, zoos, parks and farms. Some are funny, some are sad. Some are scary, some are inspiring. All are entertaining and told as only Rick Sowash can tell them"--Back cover

Stories come from around the world, but they grow from the very earth upon which they are first told. Michael J. Caduto invites readers to listen while the Earth tells these stories through his lyrical retellings of tales such as "Hare Rescues the Sun" and "The Coming of Fire."

Resplendent, powerful paintings by these two-time Caldecott-winning artists bring new life to the title story from the late Hamilton's 1985 collection, The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales . Making dramatic use of shadow and light, Leo and Diane Dillon (whose half-tone illustrations also graced the original volume) ably convey the tale's simultaneous messages of oppression and freedom, of sadness and hope. "They say the people could fly....

Retells the classic German tale of Rapunzel in the tower, along with the similar tales of Clotilde from the Philippines, and Petrosinella from Italy.

When Bear and Brown Squirrel have a disagreement about whether Bear can stop the sun from rising, Brown Squirrel ends up with claw marks on his back and becomes Chipmunk, the striped one.

A freshly baked gingerbread cowboy escapes from the rancher's wife's kitchen and eludes his pursuers in this western United States version of the "Gingerbread Boy."

""The well-known tale of the Three Little Pigs gets a makeover featuring simple ways to count from 1 to 100 and geometric shapes"--

When an acorn hits her on the head, Chicken Little believes the sky is falling down and runs to tell the King and everyone she meets along the way.

In a story of the Ila people, the colorful birds of Africa ask Blackbird, whom they think is the most beautiful of birds, to decorate them with some of his "blackening brew."

Eleven Perrault fairy tales including their rhymed morals.