Swamp Angel

Swamp Angel is written by Anne Isaacs and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky. It is a tall tale and is appropriate for grades k-5. The story is simple enough for lower levels, but also has enough of a story to appeal to older grades.
This is the story of Angelica Longrider, a little girl born in Tennessee. Angelica was born a rather large baby and grew up with talents to match her size. One day when a wagon train got stuck in a swamp she came to their rescue and lifted the wagons out of the swamp. From then on she was called Swamp Angel. In the area where Swamp Angel lived, there was a bear who was ravaging all the people's food cellars. The people in the area decided to make a contest out of catcing the bear and Swamp Angel decided to join the hunt. No matter how much the men in the contest made fun of her, Swamp Angel would not give up and eventually she was the last one left out hunting for the bear. The bear and Swamp Angel met up and proceeded to have to battle of the century all over Tennessee. The two of them fought and fought and even fought in their sleep. Swamp Angel eventually kills the bear when she snores so loud a tree falls on the bear. The people of Tennessee have a great party with all kinds of bear soups and cakes and muffins. Swamp Angel uses the bear's pelts to make the Shortgrass Prairie of Montana and when she threw the bear into the sky she was said to have made a constellation shaped like a bear. These are reminders of the great fight between the great bear and Swamp Angel.
I loved the endearing dialect used in this tall tale. There is something about the way the author uses the language to tell such an astounding story that grabs you pulls you into the story. I can just imagine the way a child would become enthralled with this tale. The illustrations in this story really help to create the story. They never come right out and say that Swamp Angel is larger than normal, but the pictures show how she can perform the feats that she does. The coloring of the pictures puts you into the mind set of back country Tennessee and really shows the beauty of the land. I think tall tales like this one will really grab kids attention.
This story opens the door for teachers to teach about tall tales. The real life applications that may or may not be true is a cool way for kids to be creative. Reading this story and discussing whether or not their really is a constellation of a bear and then having students right their own tall tales is a different way to have kids write that may help them enjoy writing.