Pecos Bill

Incidents from the life of Pecos Bill, from his childhood among the coyotes to his unusual wedding day.

Porch Lies: Tales of Slicksters, Tricksters, and Other Wily Characters

This is a collection of African American short stories. McKissack based the stories on those she heard as a child while sitting on her grandparents’ porch.

Gullible Gus

Cowboy Gus is cured of a bad case of gullibility by listening to three tall tales.Poor Cowboy Gus! He believes everything the other cowboys tell him, so he gets teased all the time. To cure his terrible case of gullibility, Gus visits Fibrock, a town full of liars. There he encounters Hokum Malarkey, who tells him three outrageous stories—while relieving him of all his money. But Gus doesn’t mind. If he can honestly say the words “I don’t believe it,” he’ll be cured forever. With extravagant humor and lively language, Maxine Schur presents three tall tales within a frame story, each one just right for the chapter-book audience. Andrew Glass’s hilarious illustrations perfectly depict the hapless hero and the other larger-than-life characters that populate these wild and woolly adventures.