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American Tall Tales

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The perfect addition to every family’s home library and just right for sharing aloud, American Tall Tales introduces readers to America’s first folk heroes in nine wildly exaggerated and downright funny stories.
 
Here are Paul Bunyan, that king-sized lumberjack who could fell “ten white pines with a single swing”; John Henry, with his mighty hammer; Mose, old New York’s biggest, bravest fireman; Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind, who could “outgrin, outsnort, outrun, outlift, outsneeze, outsleep, outlie any varmint”; and other uniquely American characters, together in one superb collection.
 
In the tradition of the original nineteenth-century storytellers, Mary Pope Osborne compiles, edits, and adds her own two cents’ worth—and also supplies fascinating historical headnotes. Michael McCurdy’s robust colored wood engravings recall an earlier time, perfectly capturing all the vitality of the men and women who carved a new country out of the North American wilderness.

115 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

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About the author

Mary Pope Osborne

526 books2,636 followers
Mary Pope Osborne is an American author of children's books and audiobook narrator. She is best known as the author of the Magic Tree House series, which as of 2017 sold more than 134 million copies worldwide. Both the series and Osborne have won awards, including for Osborne's charitable efforts at promoting children's literacy. One of four children, Osborne moved around in her childhood before attending the University of North Carolina. Following college, Osborne traveled before moving to New York City. She somewhat spontaneously began to write, and her first book was published in 1982. She went on to write a variety of other children's and young adult books before starting the Magic Tree House series in 1992. Osborne's sister Natalie Pope Boyce has written several compendium books to the Magic Tree House series, sometimes with Osborne's husband Will Osborne.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews
Profile Image for Ronyell.
990 reviews338 followers
April 29, 2013
American Tall Tales

“American Tall Tales” is a set of tales from famous tall tale heroes of the west, African-American history, and of the Mississippi. Mary Pope Osborne’s hilarious retelling of the American heroes and Michael McCurdy’s wood engraved drawings both make these set of collections an instant treat.

“American Tall Tales” is a great book about tall tale legends that made a difference in the world. One of the best advantages in this book is the colorful characters. Each tall tale character is a portrait of self confidence and perseverance and each try to achieve their goals and therefore, become great figures in history. A couple of great examples would be of Mose the Fireman who volunteers to save innocent lives, regardless of him not being paid for his work. Mose lives to help people in danger of losing their lives in a fire and would stop at nothing to make sure that the people get out of the dangerous situations that they are in alive. Another great example would be John Henry, who sacrificed his life to save the duties of the other workers so that they would not lose their jobs to the drill machine. Michael McCurdy’s wood engraved drawings are magnificent as he gives this book an old-fashioned style, especially when he creatively illustrates each tall tale character as tough yet friendly looking figures.

“American Tall Tales” is probably the greatest retelling of America’s greatest tall tale heroes and how they made a difference during their time and helped encouraged modern day readers to believe in themselves and do the right thing. Parents who want to teach their children about American Folktales would be interested in this book as it is suitable for children ages five years and older.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog



Profile Image for Helen.
3,644 reviews83 followers
November 14, 2020
This is an excellent book of American folk tales! Mary Osborne relates the stories in a way which even intellectual adults can enjoy! I liked the odd woodcut-type illustrations and the information preceding each tale!
Profile Image for Julie.
146 reviews3 followers
September 30, 2015
Liam listened to this twice on a car trip because he was so entertained. It was cute to hear him giggling in the back of the van.
Profile Image for Cash'Lion Elud'Ox.
34 reviews38 followers
February 25, 2017
The book was excellent for being made for all age group, although found in the youth section of the library. There's characters I haven't heard of and stories I haven't know about the characters I did known about. Makes me want to look up the folk tales of America in detail and see how far back it goes.
I been to one park that is dedicated to Paul Bunyan. I don't remember how old I was, but I did remember losing a tooth and asking the big moving statue of Paul saying, "Hello Nick and Jeff...!" Back then I was surprised that he knew my brother and my names. I recently learn they shut the place down and might come back as something else like a water park (rumors).
I did wish Mary Pope Osborne would of added little more details to each, but I understand where she's coming from when she was walking on eggshells in writing to not offend most people of the 21st Century standard style living moral keepers. I want them to make movies of these legendary tall-tales like they have been doing with the stories of the Greek gods and titans. An American style mythology that might of been real enough to make them as tall as they were told.
I recommend anyone with children and/or themselves to read it and brush up on American Tall Tales.
Profile Image for Rebecca.
420 reviews5 followers
September 24, 2021
We listened to this on Audio. It was very well done, excellent narrator. There were a few new tall tales that I wasn’t familiar with.
Profile Image for Jenny Wilson.
180 reviews5 followers
January 26, 2024
Read aloud to the kids. Interesting to get to know some of the classic American folk heros. But boy these tales are TALL. 😉
9 reviews
March 30, 2014
"American Tall Tales" by Mary Pope Osborne is a great book of storytelling. There are 9 different story collections about different American characters. She does such a good job at really describing the characters and presenting them in such an entertaining way. For example, Johnny Appleseed set off to spread apples all over the frontier and saw so many different things during his time doing so. At one point, he even saw Abraham Lincoln! I have always loved the story of Johnny Appleseed and loved the way it was presented in this book. The language used in this book is great and really draws you in. The illustrations of this book are also amazing and were done by Michael McCurdy.

In the classroom, this book would be a great book to use in grades 3-5. I think a great activity to do with students would be to have the class write their own tall tale! They would have to use a similar structure of storytelling and use exaggerated and entertaining words and ideas. This would allow them to really be creative and see how this book influenced their writing.
Profile Image for Deacon.
7 reviews
February 26, 2018
It's a great book by a great author,with good stories about funny people in funny situations.
15 reviews1 follower
March 13, 2019
We read this over many weeks, and really enjoyed the historical accounts and retellings. I would definitely recommend this as a resource for American folktales.
Profile Image for Joy Gerbode.
2,024 reviews17 followers
August 27, 2024
This is a great book of short stories telling the tales of American legends ... along with short notes on the "true" story of these people. Great for younger readers who just want a basic overview ... but fun and interesting for older readers as well.
Profile Image for isabelle.
219 reviews
January 18, 2024
that's what i'm talking about!!!!!
what i learned is johnny appleseed was a disney princess and, as everybody knows, no bear can resist an invitation to a square dance
29 reviews
March 10, 2017
Pecos Bill is one of the stories in this collection by Mary Pope Osborne. Pecos Bill is a little late to the American folklore, as he first appeared in 1923 in Century Magazine. His tale was expanded on to include "...books, articles, poems, recordings and plays." His "escapades" have crossover with Febold Feboldson and Paul Bunyan. The story of Pecos syas he was born to a family of 15 children. He played with grizzly bears instead of teddy bears. When a new family moved in, 50 miles away, the family packed up and headed west because the neighborhood was getting too crowded.
In the move west he fell off the wagon and was taken in, and raised by coyotes! At 17 he was found by a ranch hand who told him he wasn't a varmint, and took him back to the nearest ranch. He had a tough time adjusting to living with people. Even though he dressed in clothes, he never showered, shaved or got haircuts. Every morning he threw some water on his faces and spend the rest of the day looking like a wet dog. When he heard talk around the dinner table about the meanest, wildest group of cowboys, he decided to seek them out and join that gang.
On his way to seek out this gang his horse breaks a leg, so he picks him up. A 50 foot rattle snake threatens him, so he punches it out and wraps it up to take along. He even wrestled an attacking bobcat into submission and saddled him up.
He finds the gang, and quickly takes over as leader with his new tough cowpokes. The tale says the new gang had such a herd that New Mexico was a corral and Arizona was their pasture. In a severe drought they lassoed in water from the Gulf of Mexico. He rode a tornado and when he fell off he created Death Valley. His personal horse was so wild he named him the Widow Maker.
Finally one day he met a red haired lady so wild she was riding a giant catfish. Her name was Slue-foot Sue! He immediately reverted to his wild coyote ways and found she had coyote in her too. They decided to wed. After the wedding she jumped on Widow Maker, only to fly over the moon come back and bounce right off earth because of her steel spring bustle. Bill caught her with his lasso, but was pulled to the moon with her. People say they must have got stuck on some moon cheese and stayed there to raise their own wild family. When you hear wild howling at night, it's not a coyote howling at the moon, it's Bill howling on the moon.

This hardbound edition also contains tales John Henry, Paul Bunyan. It is a great choice for public and school libraries and is worth adding to a child's home collection of books. Illustrations are in a distinct style by Michael McCurdy and while rich are limited to supplementing the tales.
For ETEC this is FOLKTALE
115 reviews5 followers
June 25, 2013
American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osborne is a collection of nine different traditional tall tales from all around the United States. This book represents the tall tales that it seems as if all Americans have come to know, such as Paul Bunion and Johnny Appleseed, but it also represents women with Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind, Seamen such as Stormalong, African Americans with John Henry, and even city legends such as Mose. I really like the representations of so many different types of people. I also like how this book included people that we know are true (even though their stories may be a little exaggerated) like Davy Crockett and Johnny Appleseed, ones that we know are fictional such as Paul Bunion, and ones that we are not sure about like John Henry.
Before each story, Mary Pope Osborne gives a brief history of the person, and she also tells where she is got the stories that she is using for her story. She is very honest with these backgrounds by stating that sometimes she is combining a few different stories, and even sometimes she is combining a few different people. She also states what we know to be true about the characters and where their stories first originated to our knowledge. She includes a map of the United States in the beginning to tell us where these characters were located, and she also includes a bibliography that tells us more about where she got her information.
The illustrations in this book are really cool. They are actually wood engravings by Michael McCurdy. They really give the stories a rustic feel to them. They also do a good job of following with the stories. These characters are such exaggerated characters that it makes it easier when the pictures match the stories.
I would recommend that this book to students who are in the 3rd to 6th grade, but older students who are studying traditional literature or American folk or tall tales would also find this book helpful. I think it would be fun as a teacher to read these to the students and then have the students develop their own tall tales. It would also be fun to have them illustrate their tall tales. Students would like it because it is a time when they actually get the chance to exaggerate and stretch the truth to make a story better. Kids are so good at that anyways, so we might as well put that talent to work.
29 reviews3 followers
November 24, 2013
The audio book entitled, American Tall Tales, is a collection of folklore books on CD. The audio book is intended for young readers ranging in age from 8 through 10 years old in grades 3rd through 5th. This age range would be (I) Intermediate, age 8 through 12.

This audio book tells stories of 9 folktale heroes. The various characters were men and women whose lives are explained with a little exaggeration to make the stories more interesting to the listener. There are various tall tales told on this CD, so prepare yourself to be educated and entertained at the same time. This audio book is also presented in paper book form.

I gave this audio book 4 stars, because I really liked its’ context and how each character was given a place on their own track on the CD. I also liked the ideas that this is also in paper form. I found this audio recording to be a great idea. This piece of literary form can be used in a great many areas. It is also readily available for those who may be visually impaired. Each character has a track on the CD, so you don't have to go through the entire CD if you are searching for a particular character in history on this CD. It is a great teaching tool. I do believe that this would be appealing, especially to the child who listens attentively. I would use this audio book with children by playing a track or two and have the children take notes and then stop the CD to ask questions concerning what was communicated to them in the recording. Who would they consider to be a hero in their life?

The book, American Tall Tales was read and reviewed in September 2013.
8 reviews
April 20, 2020
Mary Pope Osborne, the amazing author of The Magic Treehouse series, never ceases to amaze me. American Tall Tales is a collection of folktales compiled into a picture book with breathtaking artwork (thank you, Michael McCurdy). The book contains nine chapters, each of which follows a different tall tale. Students of any grade level could enjoy this book and the tales of Johnny Appleseed, Davy Crockett, and more. The first few pages of the text give the graphic of a map that details where each of these tales takes place. Before each of the chapters, the reader is given ‘Notes on the Story’ which gives them a bit of background information for the time and the story itself.

I believe that in the classroom you could use this in tandem with social studies to explore the geography or cultural aspect of the book with the literature aspect. Students could examine the time period that a tall tale takes place in and make the connection to historical events at that time as well. Another activity that I would use would be to have students do a creative writing piece and create their own tall tale based on the trends that they noticed from this book.

I said it previously but I will attest to it again, one of the main factors that make with a WOW book for me is the breathtaking artwork from Michael McCurdy and the always engaging work of Mary Pope Osborne. I had also greatly enjoyed the fact that each story began with notes that made connections to actual events and history. I enjoyed each section of the book and even though I had heard a few of the tales before, I never wanted to skip over any of them.
Profile Image for Annikka.
35 reviews1 follower
November 20, 2015
Summarize the book:

This book contains many tall tales about people like Davey Crockett, John Henry, and Paul Bunyan just to name a few. There is a map near the front of the book that gives an idea about where each of these stories originated from, and at the beginning of each story there is a page describing some of the background of the story. It is a wonderful collection of tall tales and a little bit of the history behind them.

Identify the characteristics from the text that support the specific genre:

These tales are, as the title of the book states, tall tales that have been passed down so much that some have become legends. Many of these stories teach a moral or have a theme. For example, a theme in Pecos Bill might be to be prepared for whatever comes. Many of the stories are brief, introducing and solving a conflict quickly.

Identify specific concepts that could be integrated into the classroom:

Concepts that you could use this book for include how real people became legends, how to separate fact from legend, or even looking at why people feel they need to have these legends.

Offer any other suggestions that would be useful regarding literary content, reading level, and other ways in which the book might be integrated:

This book was made for children 8-12 years of age. However, I have seen this book be used in some high school classes. This book could be used in U.S. History lessons, looking specifically at the time period that the tall tale was based in, and seeing how accurate the tale has stood up to time.
2,783 reviews44 followers
September 3, 2019
These tales are indeed tall, exaggeration is too light a word to use to describe the structure of the stories in this collection. As an example, here is the second sentence in the story about Paul Bunyan. “When he was only two weeks old, he weighed more than a hundred pounds, and for breakfast every morning he ate five dozen eggs, ten sacks of potatoes, and a half barrel of mush from a whole sack of cornmeal.” Now that is what you would call a whopper of an exaggeration.
The real/mythical people described in these stories are:

*) Davy Crockett
*) Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind
*) Johnny Appleseed
*) Stormalong
*) Mose
*) Febold Feboldson
*) Pecos Bill
*) John Henry
*) Paul Bunyan

Of course, Crockett and Appleseed were real historical figures, Crockett died a hero at The Alamo and thanks to Appleseed, many pioneer families found bearing apple trees when they arrived on the frontier. Others are lightly based on real people where the legend far outpaced their achievements.
This is a fun book to read, while other cultures may have similar myths, these are based on the people and environment of European based North Americans.
12 reviews
September 17, 2019
There are 9 different story collections about different American characters. She does a good job at describing the characters and presenting them in such an entertaining way. For example, Johnny Appleseed set off to spread apples all over the frontier and saw so many different things during his time doing so. At one point, he even saw Abraham Lincoln! The language used in this book is great and really draws you in. The illustrations of this book are also amazing and helps with painting the picture in your head.

In the classroom, this book would be a great book to use in grades 3-5. I think a great activity to do with students would be to have the class write their own tall tale! They would have to use a similar structure of storytelling and use exaggerated and entertaining words and ideas. This would allow them to really be creative and see how this book influenced their writing. I think another great idea would be to listen to stories like this on audio, this way the student really has to listen to the story and imagine what it would be like. Tall tales have always been interesting to me, and in the future I would love to spread the same love and story telling to students.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Stephanie Fields.
14 reviews2 followers
May 6, 2018
The genre of American Tall Tales is a fictional folklore. This book has won the ABC Children's Booksellers' Choice award. This book is intended for children ages 8-12. American tall tales is nine funny overly exaggerated tales. I gave this book 4 stars. The stories were captivating and easy to follow. I caught myself laughing out loud while reading. I also liked how some of the stories had a connection to each other. The theme was clear and precise. The characters could be everyday people if everyday life was filled with giant men and women. The illustrations were detailed which created texture in the pictures. The language in this book was easy to understand and ideal for intermediate readers. Young readers would find this book appealing because of the silliness of the stories. I would use this book to teach young children about the difference between real and unreal.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Janice.
2,183 reviews2 followers
November 25, 2016
American Tall Tales aren't really told to children anymore, at least that's what I found out when I mentioned Paul Bunyan and Babe the big blue ox to my class. So I went searching for books that told some of the stories. I found a few that were older, but this one had several of the stories put together in one place. Plus there are beautiful illustrations and the history behind the tall tales.

My class and I enjoyed the book and the discussion about the things the stories had in common and why they might have been popular. (One of the students said they were the superheroes of their time which I agree with)

Profile Image for Victoria Marie Lees.
Author 11 books40 followers
September 8, 2017
This was a great book to research about American Tall Tales for a writing workshop I’m facilitating at the Burlington County Library, Maple Shade Branch. Mary Pope Osborne’s American Tall Tales gives me solid versions of 9 tall tales and helps concretize the what and why of tall tales. Thanks, Mary!

I will be facilitating a short story workshop about American Tall Tales on Friday, Nov. 17, 2017, at 6:00 p.m. at the:
Burlington County Library, Maple Shade Branch
200 Stiles Avenue
Maple Shade, NJ 08052.

If you are in the area, please stop by. I'd love to see you!
Profile Image for Emily Dell.
79 reviews1 follower
April 22, 2020
Genre: Traditional Fantasy
Grade Level: Middle Grades

I really liked the unique twist that Osborne added to the stories I have been familiar with since childhood. One thing that stood out to be about this book was that she included information before each story that provided contrast against the craziness of her tall tales.
Profile Image for Beth.
98 reviews1 follower
August 11, 2018
I got this as a free audible book and I really enjoyed it. I have always loved folk tales and remember enjoying these stories in elementary school. The narrator is very engaging and really brings the stories to life.
Profile Image for Debra.
613 reviews
October 3, 2018
What a fun book of American folk tales, many of which I remember from my childhood. It was great to share those with my son. The author also added facts about where each of these tales came from. She did a hilarious job of retelling these stories.
Profile Image for Ammie.
976 reviews
February 13, 2020
We really enjoyed this collection of Tall Tales. Makes me want to watch some of the movies based on some of these tale stories. We will spend time talking about the real stories of a few of these characters in the coming months.
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