School Library Journal

Gr 2-5-This original tall tale tells of an unusual African American who frees the slaves on Plenty Plantation. The story is framed by a contemporary boy hearing about the past from Momma Mary. She tells of the young slave, Addy, who finds a boy in a basket while she is fishing. The child can do miraculous things, like call the fish out of the water when they're not biting, or harvest the cotton fields in a night and a day when he grows older. Jabe makes sure that the slaves get their fair share of everything, too, but the overseer doesn't appreciate him, and takes out his frustrations on the other slaves. When they mysteriously disappear in the night, only Addy seems to know that Jabe is responsible, and, when she is put in chains and about to be sold, he rescues her, too. Nolen's writing draws readers into the narrative and presents the magical aspects matter-of-factly. The author uses traditional folklore motifs to good effect in creating this larger-than-life hero. Nelson's watercolor-and-gouache paintings bring the characters fully to life and provide a realistic and historically accurate setting for the fantastic events. The illustrations, particularly the cover of Jabe striding tall above the trees and the scenes around the plantation, highlight the fantasy even as they make the story real.-Ellen A. Greever, University of New Orleans, LA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

ALA Booklist (Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2000)

Part Moses, part John Henry, the man who leads the slaves to freedom in this original tall tale first appears on the plantation as a smiling little boy floating in a basket on the river. In just a few months he has grown into the giant, Jabe, with the strength of 50 (He could weed a whole field of soybeans before sunup, hoe the back forty by midday, and mend ten miles of fence by sunset). He lightens the burden of hard labor, and when the people face punishment, he helps them disappear. Fish jump from the roiling river at his cry, and no one goes hungry. He can call up a twister and the next day a slave family has vanished. As in her picture book In My Momma's Kitchen (1999), Nolen dramatizes the strength of community and of story. Nelson's full-page pictures in ink, watercolor, and gouache show life in the Quarters and also the wild glory of the natural world that gives Big Jabe his mythic power. (Reviewed April 1, 2000)

Horn Book (Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2000)

Part magical savior, part tall-tale hero, Big Jabe personifies the triumph of African Americans who escaped from slavery. Nolen recounts her original tale with a light touch and lyrical voices that add depth and resonance to its imagery and serious overtones. The gouache and watercolor illustrations convey both the lush summer and the rigorous life of the slaves. This powerful story will be particularly effective shared aloud.

Kirkus Reviews

Nolen ( In My Momma's Kitchen , 1999) rears up a new tall-tale hero, with the strength of 50 and a hidden agenda. The lad, who floats down the river and into the arms of Simon Plenty's house slave, Addy, shows early signs of unusual ability, calling fish out of the water until Addy's wagon is piled high. By that June, young Jabe is a full-grown man, capable of mending ten miles of fence between midday and sundown. Like the pear tree he plants, which grows to full size in one season "with the North Star shining through its branches," all of the crops on the plantation come in with unprecedented abundance that year. Only the overseer is displeased—even more so when each slave who feels his displeasure disappears with his family in the wake of a strange storm that wipes out any sign of a trail. Addy whispers that Jabe is "taking them to the pear tree," which is to say pointing them North to freedom. Nelson ( Brothers of the Knight , not reviewed) takes Jabe from a rawboned child with an engaging grin to brawny adulthood, placing him into historical scenes that rival Trina Schart Hyman's for fine detail and strongly drawn, expressive figures. In the end, Jabe leaves as suddenly as he came, and is last seen striding away, towering over the trees. Like Virginia Hamilton's Drylongso (1999) and unlike John Henry, Big Jabe seems not just larger than life, but a force of nature, subtle, secret, untouchable—and that undercurrent of mystery gives his story a mythic power. (Picture book. 7-10)

Starred Review for Publishers Weekly

With an unmistakable reference to the story of Moses, a captive discovers a boy floating in a basket. The collaborators here "use superhuman elements to distill all-too-human truths, and empower the audience to confront an unbearable history and come away with hope," wrote <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">PW in a boxed review. Ages 6-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Jan.)