Sarah Longrider was born in Tennessee, and was only slightly taller then her mother at birth. She was constantly helping the people of Tennessee and was soon known as the Swamp Angel. There was a bear, Thundering Tarnation, that was going around eating everyone’s food stored in the cellars for winter. There was a contest to kill the bear, Angel joined in. After all the men had their try at Tarnation, it was Angels turn. Angel and Tarnation wrestled all across the state, until they fell into a huge lake, Angel saved herself by drinking the lake dry. They continued to wrestled until they both fell asleep, together they snored down and entire forest. The last tree in the forest fell on Tarnation, killing him. All the people of Tennessee ate bear that night, and the leftovers filled everyone’s cellars. Angel took the skin to Montana, and it’s now known as the short grass prairie.

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.

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.