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by Renee Kirchner, Teaching Tips Contributing Editor
We’ve all read tall tales before. The legends of Paul Bunyan and John Henry are examples of tall tales. The accomplishments of the hero in the story are larger than life or exaggerated. Read a few tall tales with your students so they can become familiar with the genre. Here are some good ones to start with:
Paul Bunyan by Steven Kellogg. HarperCollins Publishers, June 1985.
The story of the larger-than-life lumberjack, Paul Bunyan, is familiar to many children. Steven Kellogg writes about all of Paul’s exciting adventures with Babe the Blue Ox. His illustrations bring the book to life.
American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osborne. Random House Children’s Books, September 1991.
Nine folk heroes are introduced in this collection of tall tales by Mary Pope Osborne. Readers will meet Johnny Appleseed, John Henry, Paul Bunyan, and many others. The exaggerated stories of their adventures will delight children.
Dona Flor: A Tall Tale about a Giant Lady with a Great Big Heart.by Pat Mora. Alfred A. Knopf, October 2005.
Readers will meet, Dona Flor, in this tall tale about a giant woman. She makes giant tortillas for everyone to eat and they can use the leftovers as rafts and she lets children use her giant flowers as trumpets. When a large lion threatens the village, Flora sets off to find it.
Tall tales all have one thing in common - they’re probably as much fun to write, as they are to read. Why don’t you try your hand at writing a tall tale, or at least the beginning of a tall tale? We’ve written the start of the first sentence, now all you have to do is fill in the rest. Whether you write one sentence, a paragraph, or a whole story, make sure that you exaggerate. See how wild your imagination is.
1. Dan Magallan and his horse traveled the country _______________________________.
2. The locomotive sped toward the car that was stalled on the train track. It would take a miracle to save the driver. Suddenly __________________________.
3. A long time ago in a land far, far away there was a knight who was braver than all of the men in the land. He was called the dragon slayer and he _____________________.
4. The giant waves of the hurricane were no match for ____________________________.
5. Big Tex rode a twenty foot rattle snake when he came into town _________________.
6. Giovanni, the pizza maker was legendary in these parts. He used to ______________.
7. Leo the Great could tame any wild beast. He rounded up the wild animals of the jungle and _________________________________________________.
8. Billy Bob had an amazing set of lungs. He could blow all of the sand out of the Sahara Desert. With one breath, he could suck up all of the water in Lake Michigan. These amazing powers came in very handy when ______________________________________.