Swamp Angel By Anne Isaacs Illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky I can identify characteristics of a Tall Tale.

About the author Anne Isaacs Anne Isaacs was born in Buffalo, New York, and lived there until she left for college in Since then she has lived in various cities in Canada and in the San Francisco Bay area, where she lives now. As a child she was shy and usually lost in a world of imagination. She read constantly from fourth grade on and dabbled in writing. But she didn't begin to write seriously until she had children of her own. When not writing, Isaacs can be found hiking with friends, swimming, cooking, or spending time with her three children. Her advice to people who want to be writers is to listen and read. She tells them that the more you play with words, the better. Budding writers can share their stories or poems with friends and listen to what they say. Above all, she tells them, "Do not give up!"

Tall Tales Tall tales are American folktales told early in United States history. When the first settlers began moving west, they found themselves faced with seemingly impossible tasks. The huge job of clearing the land to build homes, cities, and railroads gave the workers a chance to invent stories about their surroundings and “larger- than-life people who felt that nothing was impossible. Some of these legendary heroes were real people. As more people told the stories, they grew, and grew, and grew, until the real live people were no longer human, but fictitious super-beings. For this reason, these stories are called tall tales.

Tall Tales Exaggerated humor All tall tales have in common certain elements, such as one person battling a force of nature much bigger than himself, yet beating it. Tall tales were a response to hardships? Tall tales were designed to bring comfort and courage to settlers.

Vocabulary words – bog: a small swamp – mired: stuck in the mud – covered wagon: a large wagon with a canvas cover that settlers traveled in across the country – root cellar: an underground room used to store food – settler: a person who traveled across the country in the 1800s to make a home in a new area – molasses: a dark, sweet, sticky syrup – commenced: began – lasso: a rope with a loop at the end, used to catch a cow or horse

Caldecott Honor Book: 1995 Why is a book given this award? What type of illustrations are used in the story?

Details of the story Where did the story take place? When did the story take place?