Talk That Talk

More than 100 entries fill this superb treasury of Americana. The strata= gems of wily Br'er Rabbit, African folktales and the justly celebrated lyrics of Leadbelly are complemented by less familiar works. Among the standouts: ``Daddy,'' a deeply affecting portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. supplied by his daughter Yolanda D. King and her co-writer Hilda R. Tompkins; ``Don't Have a Baby Till You Read This,'' a deliciously wicked account of childbearing by poet Nikki Giovanni; and ``Harriet Tubman,'' a memorable assessment by her great-grandniece, Mariline Wilkins, which includes a startling description of the pk heroine's use of bacteria in homemade medicines. Most of the pieces are rendered in dialect, a technique that successfully recalls the oral tradition which they represent and which this volume seeks to preserve. Exceptionally well ordered, the anthology is divided into such sections as ``Like It Was: History Remembered'' and ``The Bogey Man's Gonna Git You: Tales of Ghosts and Witches.'' Goss and Barnes--both professional storytellers (Goss is president of the Association of Black Storytellers)--other folklorists,stet comma/g and b are not scholars but are folklorists and scholars contribute the critical essays that accompany and illuminate each of these sections. (Dec.)