Big Men, Big Country: A Collection of American Tall Tales

In the great spirit of American storytelling, this anthology features nine tales about such legendary American heroes as John Henry, Paul Bunyon, and Pecos Bill. By the author of The Slugger's Club: A Sports Mystery.

Grade 3-6-- This collection acquaints or, in many cases, reacquaints readers with such familiar tall-tale personages as Paul Bunyan, John Henry, and Pecos Bill. In addition, some new characters, John Darling of the Catskills and Ol' Gabe of Yellowstone, continue the tradition in anecdotal sketches. Told with an appropriate blend of down-home dialect and vocabulary, with descriptive locale included, these stories are replete with humor and exaggeration. The relative brevity of each of the nine stories makes the book useful for story hours or classroom read-alouds. The full-page, full-color illustrations, one per story, are satisfyingly heroic in their dimensions. These figures are a bit static in their settings, however; movement seems to have been sacrificed to size. Some smaller black-and-white drawings are sprinkled throughout; several of these provide a better sense of movement and activity. Because there have been several noteworthy collections published recently, such as San Souci's Larger Than Life (Doubleday, 1991) and Osborne's American Tall Tales (Knopf, 1991), this one may be considered useful only for libraries with extensive, heavily used folklore collections. Walker's carefully researched bibliography, citing many original sources, and his blending of several anecdotes to create slightly different story lines, invite comparison and contrast when these heroes are studied. --Martha Rosen, Edgewood School, Scarsdale, NY
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The rip-roarin' Davy Crockett and Pecos Bill team up with less widely known frontiersmen in this celebration of the outlandish exploits of nine American folk heroes from history and fable. Adopting the cheery informality of the oral tradition that gave rise to the genre, Walker ( Bigfoot and Other Legendary Creatures ) gives full reign to the tall tale's exaggerated qualities and regional colloquialisms. But the cumulative effect of such folksiness is monotonousness. Similarly, an author's note preceding the collection serves up simplistic generalizations that seem more patronizing than humorous ("In those days most folks believed that a woman's place was beside her husband. Of course today we know it's the other way around" explains the lack of female adventurers). Short notes follow each story, detailing the historical and cultural context of the hero and the tale. Bernardin's gouache and pencil illustrations, stylistically reminiscent of Barry Moser's work, all feature a larger-than-life he-man ready to swagger off the page. Ages 8-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A sprightly large-format collection of episodes from the lives of nine tall-tale heroes--Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, and New York City's Big Mose on the mythical side; Gib Morgan, John Darling, Jim Bridger, and other historical figures. Walker admits to a certain amount of embroidery, but bases each tale on the earliest printed version he could find and appends intelligent source notes. Except for Sluefoot Sue, his cast is male; he notes the scarcity of tall tales about women--``You see, in those days most folks believed that a woman's place was beside her husband. Of course, today we know that it's the other way around.'' In Bernardin's literal, energetic paintings, the brawny, generally cheerful figures burst from the mayhem within their close-packed frames. A lively next choice for readers of San Souci's Larger than Life (1991). (Folklore. 9-12) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.