American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osborne

Folk Literature
3rd Grade

The author captures the stories that everyone has grown up hearing as a child in this book. This book is a collection of stories about famous legends from America. Before each story Osborne includes a note that helps readers gain background knowledge of how the tall tale came to be. The book includes stories about Davy Crockett, Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind, Johnny Appleseed, Stormalong, Mose, Febold Feboldson, Pecos Bill, John Henry, and Paul Bunyan. Each story includes illustrations that depict the story being told.

My favorite story in book was about John Henry. The story begins talking about the day John Henry was born and how he was born with a hammer in his hand. John Henry was strong and skillful when working with a hammer. Everyday John worked as a steel driver. One day a man came with a great new invention called a steam driller and this provided John Henry with a great challenge. He knew he could hammer faster than any steam driller and he wanted to prove it. So, John Henry and the man with steam driller competed to see who could hammer faster and of course John Henry proved to be the better man for the job. While still hammering John Henry's ribs begin to crack, he collapsed, and died that very day. This story along with the others would excite children!


While in 3rd grade students learn to assess the heroic deeds of folktale legends. I will use this book to help students with that. Everyday during this unit we will read one folktale and talk about the character. After finishing the unit I will have students create their own folktale and write it. I will also have them illustrate their story. Once all the stories are finished I will create a class book that will contain all the folktales the students have written.