American Tale Tales

Osborne, M.P. (1991) American tall tales. New York: Random House Children's Books.  American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osbourne is a wonderful collection of tales from famous tall tale heroes. Some of the characters in this book include Paul Bunyan, Davy Crockett, Johnny Appleseed, and Pecos Bill just to name a few. Mary Pope Osbourne does a wonderful job at making the characters in the story come alive. The tales in this book are close to the originals with just a little twist from the author. There are not many illustrations in this book but the few that there are really add the the story because they create a clearer picture of the famous tall tale heroes. The illustrations in this book are wood carving pictures which is very unique.   I think the tales and characters in this book would be great to use when teaching students perseverance and goal setting. American Tall Tales would be a wonderful book to introduce students to tall tales. This book would also be a good book to teach hyperbole and exaggeration. A fun activity for this book would be to have students create and share their own tall tales.