Paul Bunyan, his wife, and their children do some ordinary things which result in the formation of Niagara Falls, Bryce Canyon, and other natural monuments.
The Bunyans
Americas
Materials from the Americas
Grandma Lena’s Big Ol’ Turnip
Grandma Lena grows a turnip so big that it takes her entire family pull it up and half of the town to eat it. Includes a note about cooking “soul food.”
Clever Beatrice: An Upper Peninsula Conte
A small, but clever young girl outwits a rich giant and wins all his gold.
The Tale of Willie Monroe
An adaptation, set in the American South, of an old Japanese folktale in which a powerful wrestler who hopes to win the Emperor’s Wrestling Match encounters three exceptionally strong women who train him for success.
The Bourbon Street Musicians
In this rollicking retelling of “The Bremen Town Musicians,” a creaky old jack mule, a droopy hound dog, a ragged rooster, and a bony cat, all unwanted and no longer loved, set out for Bourbon Street in New Orleans to play bebop and make their fortune. Presently they encounter a band of thieves in a shack by a bayou, and though things don’t turn out quite as expected, they end up mighty fine just the same. A bluesy dialect that begs to be read aloud, vivid imagery, and distinctively comic illustrations infuse the adventures of these four determined friends with the flavor of rural Louisiana and the rhythm of New Orleans jazz. Glossary.
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.
Comes A Wind
While visiting their mother’s ranch, two brothers who constantly try to best each other swap tall tales about big winds and are surprised by the fiercest wind they have ever seen.
The Talking Eggs
A Southern folktale in which kind Blanche, following the instructions of an old witch, gains riches, while her greedy sister makes fun of the old woman and is duly rewarded.
Tailypo: A Newfangled Tall Tale
On a farm in the Texas Hill Country, a young boy confronts a strange critter that tries to steal his family’s last meal. A variation on the folktale about a monster that leaves its tail behind in the cabin of an African American boy.
I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago: A Tall Tale
Born about 100 centuries ago, the narrator has seen many things happen since he watched Adam and Eve eat an apple.