Swamp Angel

Swamp Angel
Isaacs, Anne
Zelinsky, Paul O
Fiction, folklore
9-10 years old
Penguin Books for Young Readers New York 2000

Swamp angel is a folktale set in the Tennessee Mountains. In the tale a girl named Angelica is born but she is no ordinary baby. She was born taller than her mother and from a young age did amazing things. She built a cabin when she was only two years old. Angelica grew to be a giant. One day Angelica rescued settlers by pulling their covered wagon out of the swamp. from then on she was knows as the Swamp Angel. One summer in Tennessee the people int he wilderness were terrorized by a giant bear they called Thundering Tarnation. Thundering Tarnation broke into people's homes and cellars and stole all their food. Townsmen lined up to to sign up to hunt for the bear. Swamp angel joined the line as well. The men laughed at her and told her she should go make a quilt or bake a pie. She told them she planned on baking a bear pie. All of the men who signed up to hunt the bear were unsuccessful. One day Swamp Angel encountered Tarnation and they began to fight. They fought for three days strait. The two stirred up so much dust they still call those mountains the Great Smoky Mountains. Angel was so thirsty she drank the lake dry. The two finally fell asleep due to exhaustion. they snored so laud that a tree fell next to them then another fell on top of the bear killing it. the town feasted on the bear an Angel made a rug out of it's pelt that was too large for Tennessee. She moved the rug to Montana and now the rug is called the Shortgrass Prairie.

This book is adorable. This is a very clever folktale that tells the tale of this independent girl. I loved the part where Angel told the men that were laughing at her that they should go make a quilt because that is men's work. I loved the author's tall tale explanations for how the Great smoky Mountains and the Shortgrass Prairie were created. These explanations would be a good way to lead into a lesson on hoe theses landmarks were really created. This book is an excellent tool to use to teach children about folklore as well as rural cultures and dialect.

The illustrations by Zelinsky were breathtaking. they were done in oil paint on cherry, maple, and birch veneers. I have never seen Illustrations presented in this way. Each one seemed like a snapshot in time that posted on a wooden background. The colors he used gave the book an antique feel which is quite appropriate for a folktale. I feel that this folk tale could have stood on its own but that would be a shame because the paintings are magnificent.