by Adrien Stoutenburg
Illustrated by Richard M. Powers
My fifth graders really enjoy tall tales. They enjoy the exaggerations and the adventures of the characters. American Tall Tales is an excellent collection offering a variety of tall tales.
Most of the tales start with the character's birth and end with their death. Only two don't cover the full life span. Paul Bunyan walks off into the sunset in his story while Joe Magarac shows up fully grown.
Paul Bunyan's, Pecos Bill's, Stormalong's, Mike Fink's and Joe Magarac's stories include lots of exaggerations. Davy Crockett's tale also includes a lot of exaggerations but ties in real life events too. Johnny Appleseed's and John Henry's stories include the least amount of exaggeration.
I had never read Stormalong before, but it reminded me of John Henry. Both characters compete against more modern machines and die in the process of defeating them.
The ending of the Mike Fink story was very dark. Mike was killed by one of his friends after Mike had killed another one of their friends.
I would also recommend The Bunyans by Audrey Wood. It tells Paul Bunyan's tale after he gets married. According to the book, Paul and his family are responsible for many of the natural wonders found in the United States.
Big Men, Big Country: A Collection of American Tall Tales by Paul Robert Walker and American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osborne are excellent tall tale anthologies.
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