American Tall Tales -- recommendations (xpost)

[nmoira]

Here's the other thread: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2771877

 

What are your favourite books written for older children or adults, compilations or otherwise, of American tall tales? Comparative collections and variations on the same tales are OK, but I want actual tales not just analysis... DD the Elder says, "meaty." She'd like to move on from Paul Bunyan.

 

Here's Wikipedia's list of the most popular figures (both traditional and fakelore):

 

• Johnny Appleseed – A friendly folk-hero who traveled the West planting apple trees because he felt his guardian angel told him to
  
• Tony Beaver – A West Virginia lumberjack and cousin of Paul Bunyan
  
• Pecos Bill – legendary cowboy who "tamed the wild west"
  
• Cordwood Pete – Younger brother to lumberjack Paul Bunyon
  
• Daniel Boone – Blazed a trail across Cumberland Gap to found the first English-speaking colonies west of the Appalachian Mountains
  
• Aylett C. (Strap) Buckner – A Native American-fighter of colonial Texas
  
• Paul Bunyan – huge lumberjack who eats 50 pancakes in one minute
  
• Davy Crockett – A pioneer and U.S. Congressman from Tennessee who later died at the Battle of the Alamo
  
• Febold Feboldson – A Nebraska farmer who could fight a drought
  
• Mike Fink – The toughest boatman on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and a rival of Davy Crockett. Also known as the King of the Mississippi River Keelboatmen
  
• John Henry – A mighty steel-driving African American
  
• Iron John of Michigan. Also a hero, with incredible powers, of the German folk tale Iron John
  
• Calamity Jane – A tough Wild West woman
  
• Casey Jones – A brave and gritty railroad engineer
  
• Johnny Kaw, a fictional Kansan whose mythological status itself was in one sense a figment, in that it was created recently, in 1955. Adherents of this assessment deem such stories fakelore
  
• Joe Magarac – A Pittsburgh steelworker made of steel
  
• Molly Pitcher – A heroine of the American Revolutionary War
  
• Alfred Bulltop Stormalong – An immense sailor whose ship was so big it scraped the moon
  

 

[morosophe]

I know you said for older kids and adults, but... I've always really, really enjoyed Sid Fleischman's McBroom books. You know, the ones about the wonderful one-acre farm? And, hey, I'm an adult! (I'm an adult English major, even.) Maybe you can check them out as a treat that's still fun to read, despite being way below your daughter's reading level? Make sure you get the versions illustrated by Quentin Blake! If she's anything like me, she'll be reeling off willjillhesterchesterpeterpollytimtommarylarry and liiiiittle clarinda! in no time. (I just did that from memory, having not looked at the books in over a year, so if I got it wrong, I'm sorry.)

 

Some of Sid Fleischman's "older" books, while still being for children, are still rather tall-taley and might be a nice change from Paul Bunyan and John Henry. (I'm talking Chancy and the Grand Rascal, By the Great Horn Spoon, and so forth.)

 

Most tall tales do seem to be aimed at children, though. All I can think for adults is going back to some of the older (non-American) folktales, such as those involving "Baron Munchausen" or his identical Russian twin, "The Fool."

 

To build on a unit on tall tales, consider Maniac Magee, which uses some of the tropes and much of the language of a tall tale to tell a story that ultimately ends up being about real people. And I would certainly consider it "meaty," and appropriate for middle school--if that's where your daughter is. (I really can't tell!)

[mamachanse]

:lurk5:

[nmoira]

I know you said for older kids and adults, but... I've always really, really enjoyed Sid Fleischman's McBroom books. You know, the ones about the wonderful one-acre farm? And, hey, I'm an adult! (I'm an adult English major, even.) Maybe you can check them out as a treat that's still fun to read, despite being way below your daughter's reading level? Make sure you get the versions illustrated by Quentin Blake! If she's anything like me, she'll be reeling off willjillhesterchesterpeterpollytimtommarylarry and liiiiittle clarinda! in no time. (I just did that from memory, having not looked at the books in over a year, so if I got it wrong, I'm sorry.)

 

Some of Sid Fleischman's "older" books, while still being for children, are still rather tall-taley and might be a nice change from Paul Bunyan and John Henry. (I'm talking Chancy and the Grand Rascal, By the Great Horn Spoon, and so forth.)

 

Most tall tales do seem to be aimed at children, though. All I can think for adults is going back to some of the older (non-American) folktales, such as those involving "Baron Munchausen" or his identical Russian twin, "The Fool."

 

To build on a unit on tall tales, consider Maniac Magee, which uses some of the tropes and much of the language of a tall tale to tell a story that ultimately ends up being about real people. And I would certainly consider it "meaty," and appropriate for middle school--if that's where your daughter is. (I really can't tell!)

 

Thank you... There's lots to investigate. :)

[mcconnellboys]

I own American Folklore and Legend, Reader's Digest, published in 1978.

[morosophe]

Well, I'm back, having done a teensy tiny bit of research. Have you found this site yet? One of the books it links to is American Tall Tales by Adrien Stoutenberg: from the reviews, this is pitched a little older than most tall tales, for upper elementary to middle school. Its first printing was in 1966 (or at least, that's the first printing Amazon shows), with several since then, so it may be available at your local library. (Or you could go with that four-for-three sale at Amazon, right?)

 

Also found via a roundabout method from that site is this: Stories collected and adapted by Chuck Larkin. He calls himself a "bluegrass storyteller," so these are mostly American yarns, specifically from the American southeast. Look more closely at "Fish Tales," "Hunting for Tall Tales," "Short & Tall Tales" and "Tall, Tall Tales" for the tall tales. They are all in .pdf format, so, assuming you have an appropriate reader, you can get them right away. And for free!

[stripe]

I have Stoutenberg. It has about 5 or 6 stories. A bit longer per story, but a very thin book.

[mcconnellboys]

We own Jim Bridger's Alarm Clock, by Fleischman, and it includes about 6 tales. I think all of them are about western figures.

[Kerrie in VA]

We are currently reading Stoutenburg's American Tall Tales. It is included in Calvert's Fifth Grade Curriculum. It covers the stories of Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, Stormalong, Mike Fink, Davy Crockett, Johnny Appleseed, John Henry. And Joe Magarac. The stories are about thirteen pages long. All my boys are enjoying listening to their oldest brother read them aloud but the oldest does get more out of them having been exposed to the geography and American History.

[Homemama2]

I have Stoutenberg. It has about 5 or 6 stories. A bit longer per story, but a very thin book.

 

:iagree: My 3rd grader read this one this year for Ambleside Online year 3. He enjoyed it.

[nmoira]

Thanks :)

 

I picked up Stoutenberg, as it's something I can read to my youngest. Also these two volumes (each were a cent at Amazon... so $4 with shipping):

 

Great American Folklore: Legends, Tales, Ballads, and Superstitions from All Across America

A Treasury of American Folklore

 

I don't know what I was searching for previously, but these volumes weren't coming up. I suspect it was an issue of searching for "tall tales" vs "folklore and legends."

 

DD the Elder also found a number of stories in this, from our folklore shelf:

 

Legends and Tales of the American West