The Faithful Friend (Caldecott Honor
Book) by Robert D. San Souci
A Tale Of Two Friends With Loyalty
Clement and Hippolyte are handsome, sharp-witted, and as close as
brothers. When Clement falls in love with enchanting Pauline, he bids
Hippolyte to join his quest to court her, and the two friends set out toward
danger and adventure. Pauline is ward of the mysterious Monsieur
Zabocat -- a plantation owner reputed to be a quimboiseur, a wizard -- and,
defying his wishes, Pauline joins her new fiancé and his friend on their trek
home. But the fruited fields and forests they traverse hide dark forces
plotting to destroy the couple...and one night -- Tam! Tam! Tamtamtam! --
the distant sound of a drum lures Hippolyte into a deadly trap that forces
him to choose between his friends safety and his own. Robert D. San
Souci and Brian Pinkney again combine their talents to bring to life a West
Indian folktale that draws upon African, European, and South American
traditions and imagery. The result is an extraordinary tale of romance,
intrigue, and incomparable courage in which the truest of friends remain
faithful to the veryend.
Personal Review: The Faithful Friend (Caldecott Honor Book) by
Robert D. San Souci
When author Robert San Souci isn't writing yet another version of the
Cinderella story (this man has done everything from skeletons to Cajuns, I
kid you not) he can be found writing the film script to the Disney film Mulan,
adapting every folktale known to man, and collaborating with some of the
best living children's illustrators out there today. He can probably tile his
floor with his Coretta Scott King Awards at this point and that Caldecott
Honor he acquired from "The Faithful Friend" probably doesn't look too

shabby either. Of course, Mr. San Souci hasn't a degree in folktales nor
has he ever worked in a professional capacity when studying them. My
response? Capacity schmapacity. This guy does his research, knows his
stuff, and produces some of the best darned picture book folktales out
there today. If his backgrounds just in advertising and film reviewing, so
be it. At least he has a healthy respect for the genre and a great ear for
folktale text. "The Faithful Friend" is an excellent example of both.
On an island in Martinique, two boys grew up on a sugar plantation. One
boy was Clement, a brown-skinned boy who's father owned the estate.
The other was Hippolyte, Clement's white companion and servant of the
house. The boys grew up together and one day Clement told his friend
that he'd fallen in love with Pauline, the niece of a man rumored to be a
wizard. Hippolyte worries that there may be danger in going to visit her,
but his friend won't be talked out of it. Together they travel along the coast
road and, as they go, bury a poor beggar they find dead along the road.
When at last the boys meet Pauline she's charmed by Clement but her
uncle is not impressed. Though she swears to marry her new (some might
say instant) love, the uncle vows to stop them at whatever the cost. Now
Hippolyte must save his friend and insipient bride from zombies, poisoned
fruit, nasty water, snakes, and that awful fate of turning to stone.
Friendship has never been so good.
In an Afterword of the book, San Souci gives a riveting account of the
many variations of this tale and gives a mighty compelling explanation of
why exactly he chose this particular version. Turns out that this story is a
Martiniquan version with an alluring chance to incorporate ghosts and
grateful dead (sans Jerry Garcia) to the mix. He makes several allusions
to "The Types of the Folk-Tale" by Antti Arne, which lists every single
folktale variant and gives each one a number. Hence, your average
grateful deal/the dead man as helper tale is tale type 505 while the
rescued princess/the grateful dead man story is more along the lines of
tale type 506. I don't know about you but I'm now itching to get my hands
on this "Type" book to find more stories that fit certain molds.
When he chose to tell this tale of a black character and his white hero
sidekick, San Souci switched the genre from the typical white-guy-and-his-
magical-black-friend story found in every bad movie and book to
something original and interesting. Race is not necessarily a factor in this
book, allowing the viewer the chance to concentrate far more on the story
than the politics. Because San Souci is throwing every folktale trick into
the mix (from the ghostly to the ghoulish to the ghastly to the gorgeous)
you might think that he's in danger of spreading himself too thin. Quite the
opposite turns out to be the case. Though he draws from a variety of
different sources, San Souci finds the perfect balance between the
fabulous and the meaningful. This is a story about friendship, plain and
simple. It just throws in a few zombies here and there for kicks.

San Souci has paired with every conceivable illustrator in the past and in
this particular case he has been put together with the very well-known
Brian Pinkney. Personally, I much prefer Brian Pinkney's pictures to those
of his father Jerry Pinkney. His pairing with San Souci has always been
particularly inspired, and I consider their work on "Sukey and the Mermaid"
to be an example of one of the best picture books available to kids today
(and certainly the top mermaid picture book every made). In this picture
book Pinkney engages in full-throttle no-holds-barred scratchboard and oil
pictures. The result are lush full-color spreads that shed delicate
pink/purple light from oil skies onto scratchboard faces or delicately swirl
circular winds of power around hot orange mangoes in a zombie's hand.
Speaking of the zombies, I don't know how San Souci pictured them when
he wrote this story down, but Pinkney has made them somewhat hot.
These are good-looking zombie women. An odd but interesting choice on
the artist's part.
You know, I don't usually like scratchboard picture books. When Mr.
Pinkney wrote and illustrated, "The Adventures of Sparrowboy", I felt the
technique was completely unnecessary. Seeing it in the context of this
story, however, it not only works but compliments the story itself. All in all,
"The Faithful Friend" is everything a good children's folktale should be.
Creepy and lovely and with a good moral that is not moralistic. A jolly
good read altogether.
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