Cut from the Same Cloth: American Women of Myth, Legend, and Tall Tale

by Robert D. San Souci, Jane Yolen, Brian Pinkney

Meet the fascinating women of American Folklore and Legend in this award-winning collection!

Have you heard of the Star Maiden, Old Sally Cato, or Sweet Betsey from Pike?

Everyone knows about Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, and Davy Crockett, But have you heard of these larger-than-life women? From Bess Call, who wrestles any and all challengers, to Molly Cottontail, who can outwit any critter iin the woods, to Hekeke, who slays a giant singlehandedly, here are fifteen funny, stormy, and always entertaining tall tales of legendary American women. They're as difference as can be, but still cut from the same cloth.

"An impressive and gratifying collection that's a cut above other such compilations."--School Library Journal

Winner of the Aesop Prize

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Folklore, Short Stories, Fiction, Fairy Tales, Picture Books

140 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Robert Daniel San Souci (October 10, 1946 – December 19, 2014) was a multiple award-winning children's book author, who resided in San Francisco, California. He often worked with his brother, Daniel San Souci, a children's book illustrator. He was a consultant to Disney Studios and was instrumental in the production of the film Mulan, for which he wrote the story. He studied folklore in graduate school. He died after suffering a head injury while falling from a high height in San Francisco in December 2014. He was only 68 years old.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although there are actually and in fact many folk and fairytale examples where women are the heroines, where female characters play the active and main roles, it is unfortunately still often the case, that these types of tales do tend to get rather overlooked and not be taken all that seriously (both with regard to the stories, the folk and fairytales themselves and equally, with regard to scholarly, folkloric studies and research). And therefore, Robert D. San Souci's Cut From the Same Cloth: American Women of Myth, Legend and Folklore is not only truly and utterly a wonderful reading pleasure and treat, no, this book is also very much an important if not an essential compilation (as it features not only fifteen shining examples of American folklore where strong women are the main protagonists, the main heroines, but also provides detailed analyses, folkloric comparisons and source materials, not to mention a bibliography that is to die for, that is both intensive and extensive, presenting, featuring current, contemporary as well as more historical tomes of both primary and secondary examples, of both collections of tales and analyses, interpretations of folklore).

As to the collected stories themselves, Robert D. San Souci's retellings are alive with both realism and magic, culturally sensitive as required, showing the fifteen chosen heroines (Native American, African American, Anglo-American and one tale from Hawaii) in all their different guises and glories, lively, engaged, strong and courageous, simply wonderful, and the only reason I have not rated Cut From the Same Cloth: American Women of Myth, Legend and Tall Tale with five stars is that I personally, would rather see the fifteen stories presented not by geographic regions, but by the type of tale, the genre of folklore they represent. Most highly and warmly recommended, with Brian Pinkney's accompanying black and white illustrations providing a lovely, descriptively evocative decorative trim (but also thankfully, never interfering with or distracting from the texts, from the actual tales themselves), and in my humble opinion, Cut From the Same Cloth: American Women of Myth, Legend and Tall Tale is truly one of Robert D. San Souci's best and most folklorically rich, academically researched and important collections (for as already mentioned, there is still very much a dearth of folklore collections featuring women as main protagonists, an unfortunate scenario that this here brilliant offering has indeed done much to rectify).

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed hearing the stories from the various regions. There were some very good stories about women in here.

[Cheyenne Howell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cut from the Same Cloth is a collection of myths, legends, and tall tales that told the lives/stories of legendary American Women. It told of women from the Northeast, South, Midwest, Southwest, and West. The book was not one of my favorite reads. This was my first time to read a book that had many stories within it. It was hard for me to remember each story because it switched stories so often. I would suggest this book for readers who enjoy a book that is composed of many stories and for readers who enjoy myths/legends/tall tales. "The Star Maiden" was probably my favorite story of the book. I love how Star Maiden was to live both life's. I would have enjoyed this book more if their would have been longer stories so I could have gotten more interested in them.

[Cindy Kelly Benabderrahman · Rating 5 out of 5]

America is graced by the strength, bravery, and cunning of many girl heroines, but we seldom hear their stories. This collection introduces many of them; there are stories from the Chippewa, Anglo Americans, African Americans, Pueblo, Tewa, Mexican American, Miwok, Eskimo, and Hawaiian. Each story, accompanied by a well-researched introduction, is told with the rhythm and cadence one would expect from a storyteller sitting round a campfire. Probably my favorite of these, because of my fondness for river lore, is the story of Sal Fink, the daughter of Mike Fink. According to San Souci, the stories of Sal Fink, “thrilled American[s:]… from the 1820s through the 1840s" and give us a glimpse of what it was like before the advent of the steam boat. This story tells some of the feats she was credited for, and of how she defeated pirates who had captured her single-handedly. It was said that her victory cry could be heard from the "headwaters of the Ohio to the mouth of the Mississippi." The prints of Brian Pinkney's engravings are full of life and motion, and the whimsy of the style does well to support the strength and beauty of the stories.

This is an invaluable collection for the classroom for many reasons. First, there are representations from so many diverse cultural groups, and without pretense. Second, the stories focus on women, who are highly unrepresented in the mainstream canon, especially in folklore and tall tales. Further, these stories are told with accuracy, in an incredibly engaging voice, and each of them have an introduction that puts the story in cultural and historical context. San Souci's source notes and bibliography provide an extensive wealth of information, which also makes this book suitable as a jumping off point for students to possibly make a project of finding another tall tale or legend and making a classroom book of the tall tales that interest them, or that are geographically or culturally specific to them.

[Just a Girl Fighting Censorship · Rating 3 out of 5]

The organization of the book was interesting, stories were broken up by region, I'm not sure if this was for the best. I did enjoy that before the telling of each myth the author provided back story regarding the culture and history of the people it belonged to, America has been diverse from the very start. This book looked at myths from African Americas, Mexican Americans, Anglo Americans, and various Native American tribes.

My personal favorites were "The Star Maiden" from the Chippewa people and "Otoonah" an Eskimo tale. These were very unique and interesting. Some of the other stories began to bleed together, which tended to bore me. For example, there were a number of stories about giant strong women,("Annie Christmas", "Sal Fink", "Bess Call") perhaps these could have combined somehow, it just got too repetitive.

Over all, a very interesting collection that is both fun to read and provides interesting insight to the early mythologies of our country.

[Charlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think this is a bad book; I just didn't enjoy reading it. It's just not my type of book. I will give this book some credit, though, because it still was factually correct about most things in the different cultures. I don't recommend this to anyone who is known to not like collections of storys like these. Just my opinion, though, I'm sure there were plenty of people who enjoyed this.

[David]

I really liked all the books that was in Cut From The Same Cloth. All of them were adventures and never had me bored. My favorite book was probably Annie Christmas. I recommend this book to people that like folktales and fables because this book has most of those.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tbh, I'm personally not a fan of woodcut style art, or dialect. I'm not sure pourquoi stories were a good fit, either; I was hoping for a focus on the Tall Tale type of story like Annie Christmas. I appreciate the good intentions and the research that went into this, but it just doesn't quite work for me and I don't feel comfortable recommending it either... just like any sampler, there will be stronger and weaker pieces.

[Andrew]

As suggested in Excellent Books for Early and Eager Readers

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The text was dated (I'm agree with the movement against writing out dialects and accents phonetically) but enjoyed that the collection embraces stories from all over America, including all areas and people.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of the stories do still kind of center the male characters, but that is a real issue when working with folklore when chauvinism has been such a trend. Still some good stories.

[Emily Dell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Traditional Fantasy
Grade Level: Middle Grades

I was really glad I could find a tall tales book that focused entirely on women! All of these stories were new to me and I really enjoyed that they took from all the regions and areas of the United States AND that they included so many different cultures! I believe that this book is a great classroom tool because it not only features women but also has references to many cultures.

[Cole · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was not a big fan of this book. I did not think it caught my attention. There was one story of the many that stood out to me. That book was molly Cotton tail. I love the way it was told and interacted with the culture in so many diffrent ways.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book mostly talked about women not men. I talks about many different cultures such as tewa chippewa ,pueblo and eskimo. It talks about many people like bess call, annie
christmas and pale faced lightning.

[Camden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the book Cut From The Same Cloth was a good book. I think this because through out the book there are multiple stories, and many characters. I really liked that, But there are some stories that I didn't enjoy.

[Rose]

398.21 San

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

AR MG 6.2 - 5 pts

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool stories

[Kristen Mohr · Rating 3 out of 5]

A whole book with stories of interesting women and only the last one did not fall to the trap of the Smurfette Principle.

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved cut from the same cloth because it was very informational. I loved learning about the different cultures in the book. It was a very good book.

[Joanna Cummings Law · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for storytelling!

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll be honest....I read most of it. Nice to see a book with tall tales of women. Cute.

[Mellanie C]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13118627