Davy Crockett Saves the World - Hardcover

Schanzer, Rosalyn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688169910 ISBN 13: 9780688169916

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2001

Synopsis

When called upon by the President of the United States to save the world from Halley's Comet, Davy Crockett hops on his bear, Death Hug, and races into action.

About this title

Review:

In this two-million-mile tall tale (praised to the skies by National Public Radio commentator and children's book author Daniel Pinkwater), famed American frontiersman Davy Crockett saves the planet, is elected to Congress, and gets the girl and a coonskin cap. Rosalyn Schanzer's outrageous story was inspired by a series of 19th-century comic almanacs about Crockett, source of wildly embellished legend: "Why, Davy could whip ten times his weight in wildcats and drink the Mississippi River dry." Here, Davy Crockett is called upon by the president to wring the tail off Halley's comet--"the biggest, baddest ball of fire and ice and brimstone ever to light up the heavens"--which is hurling itself toward America. One look at Davy, with his chiseled face and gigantic muscles bursting out of his buckskins, and the reader will know the comet hasn't got a chance. Schanzer, whose love of American history is also revealed in How We Crossed the West and Gold Fever!, has a mighty grip on the folksy language and rhythm of the tall tale. After all, "every single word is true, unless it is false." (Ages 5 to 9) --Emilie Coulter

From Publishers Weekly:

Schanzer (Gold Fever!) raids the annals of American history once again, emerging with a feisty tall tale inspired by the Davy Crockett almanacs published in the 19th century. Assuring readers that "every single word is true, unless it is false," she spins a rollicking yarn of how Crockett (who could "whip ten times his weight in wildcats and drink the Mississippi River dry") saves the world from a disastrous collision with Halley's Comet. Deep in the woods with his pet bear, Death Hug, Crockett is bent on wooing "purty" Sally Sugartree, unaware that the president has advertised for his help to reign in the comet. Once Crockett finds out he's needed, he's off "like a high-powered hurrycane," climbing to the top of a high mountain and leaping onto the comet. In the end, a triumphant Crockett gets both the girl and his coonskin cap (to cover what's left of his comet-singed hair). Schanzer's lickety-split pace and picaresque prose are equal parts swagger and sass, and her vibrant, color-drenched paintings extend the spirited tone. Careful attention to comic detail and visual echoes of the genre's hallmark exaggeration (Crockett, for instance, has the chiseled-jaw and popping muscles of a Disney hero) frame this zesty slice of Americana admirably. Ages 6-12.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0688169910
• ISBN 13: 9780688169916
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Schanzer Rosalyn