Swamp Angel

 

Bibliography:

Isaacs, Anne. 2000. SWAMP ANGEL. Ill. by: Paul Zelinsky, Puffin Books. ISBN: 0140559086

Plot Summary:

Swamp Angel is about a girl who is a force to be reckoned with. She can lasso a tornado, drink a lake dry, and she can defeat a bear. This book has amazing folk- art paintings that match the exaggerated text and is set in the American frontier.

Critical Analysis:

I honestly had to read this book a few times because, during the first read, I wasn’t that impressed. I was looking at it as a second-grade teacher and I thought the students would lose attention. It’s a very wordy book but seeing that it has a lot of awards I thought let's try it again. It is a great spin from other tall tales out there. It's different so the children would be interested in a new story. Funny elements such as the dad giving her an axe as a baby are laughable and pull kids in. I also felt there were a few words that they hadn’t heard before and really aren’t common words such as mired. You could use this to teach using context clues to figure the words out. The imagery used throughout the book is what really makes it a more interesting book because it's funny to see a large girl. The giant bear and seeing her do outrageous activities. If this book didn't have the illustrations that Zelinsky created it wouldn’t have won as many awards that it did.

I think this book is interesting and I feel that it probably won so many awards largely because it is a tall tale with a female main character. If I had to rate it from a 0-10- I think I would give it a 5 or 6. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Review Awards and Excerpt(s):

A Caldecott Honor Book
An ALA Notable Book
A Time magazine Best Book of the Year
A New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of the Year
Winner of the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year

"Move over Paul Bunyan, you are about to meet Swamp Angel. . . . Visually exciting, wonderful to read aloud, this is a picture book to remember".

-- The Horn Book, starred review

Connections:

Great book to compare with other folk tales, and to read this author's other books Dust Devil, and Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch.

This book could be used to lead into writing your own tall tales.