Berry's stories, like Shakespeare's plays, tend to dramatize universal ideas by focusing on richly detailed scenes whose meanings are fleshed out through the relations of realistic characters. In the case of "Fanso and Granny-Flo," Fanso is like Hamlet, having lost a father and not knowing why. Hamlet is quite reasonably confused by his situation, as is Fanso equally confused about his. On the other hand, Fanso does not have the prince's luxury of being able to contemplate his life; Fanso must work all the time and take advantage of brief moments for thinking when they happen to come along. In "Fanso and Granny-Flo," one such moment comes while he does the relentlessly repetitive work of milling coconut pulp.

As is usually the case in Berry's writings for young adults, his carefully phrased narration creates the illusion of simplicity for a story that is in fact complex...