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Loading... Swamp Angelby Anne Isaacs
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. The story takes place in the 1800's in Tennessee. When Angelica (Swamp Angel) was born she was as big as her mother. She grows up and is known all over the land for her good deeds and helping people. A bear named Thundering Tarnation comes and devours everyone's stored food for the winter. Swamp Angel and the bear wrestle for days. They stir up smoke, drink lakes, and snore down trees. Finally Swamp Angel gets the better of the bear and saves the day. I absolutely loved the illustrations. The illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky puts fine detail into every picture. The story reminds me a little of Paul Bunyan. It has plenty of adventure and excitement. I could not wait to find out what would happen to the bear. This would be a good book to read during a "Tale Tale" lesson. The students could compare and contrast this story from other tall tales like Paul Bunyan. Another extension is that students may also, partake in a class discussion about some of the literary elements such as the main characters, setting, conflict, and conclusion. This could help younger students realize that stories have certain parts to them and can help them start picking out some of these elements in other stories. Swamp Angel was the tale of an American Heroine/giant of the south who had all the strength (and more) of her male counterparts. This unique and genre-bending take on a tall-tale is one of my new favorite children's books! Swamp Angel is the story of Angelica Longrider, a true giant of a woman born into a rural family in the heart of Paul Bunyan-era Tennessee. The story focuses on the fantastical feats of strength and power that this literal giant woman can do, and her oddity is more in the fact that she bends gender stereotypes of not baking pies than in the normalized account of her birth ("the newborn was scarcely taller than her mother and couldn't climb a tree without help"). Throughout the book the illustrator uses a variety of artistic techniques similiar to the landscape paintings of the late 18th century American prairie, and all are vivid and realistic. Angelica is a powerful female character in a story that is fantastical and whimsical but utterly believable due to it being sheer fun to read! Wonderful story about Angelica, who is born very large and continues to grow at a crazy rate. She drinks entire lakes, builds a cabin, and wrestles with a bear. This is a wonderful tall tale that can be used in a folklore unit and compare it to Paul Bunyan. no reviews | add a review
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This tallest of tall tales is an original from an intriguing newcomer to children's books, Anne Isaacs. In the tradition of Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill, the story of a self-sufficient, tornado-wielding, unflappable heroine lopes along at a perfect pace. Paul O. Zelinsky's folksy oil illustrations are painted on cherry, maple, or birch veneers, with old-fashioned frames; the extravagant and fanciful paintings have garnered the distinguished illustrator yet another Caldecott Honor. (Zelinsky has already received one Caldecott Medal for Rapunzel and two Caldecott Honors for Hansel and Gretel and Rumpelstiltskin.) The dry and fantastically far-fetched humor of the author-illustrator team will make readers of all ages feel as though Angelica herself has tossed 'em in the air so high that they are still on the way up at nightfall. (Ages 4 and older) --Emilie Coulter
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:54 -0400)
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This book was fun to read, and would make a great read aloud. Sarah is a very unusual character, and shows that a hero can come in any shape. Although Sarah is an adult and very large, I think that children can relate to her, because she still enjoyed rough housing, and is not very proper, still very childlike. This book could be used with many ages of children, there is enough action to keep children’s attention.
1) Create a project that the class could do to help our own community, as Sarah did for her state. Allow children to decide the project, to create and ownership of the work.
2) Make paper cut outs of the children, with pictures of their faces on the heads. Write their “hero” characteristics on the body of the cut outs, hang them around the room.