Book cover accessed from: goodreads.com
Isaacs, Anne. 1994. SWAMP ANGEL. Ill. by Paul O. Zelinsky. New York: Dutton Children’s Books. ISBN 0-525-45271-0.
Summary:
Swamp Angel is a fictional tall tale of frontier and pioneer life in Tennessee. Angelica Longrider, also known as Swamp Angel, grows up to be larger than life and the greatest woodswoman in Tennesse. She saves settlers all on her own, from a formidable bear known as Thundering Tarnation. In her quest to capture Thundering Tarnation, Swamp Angel wields a tornado like a lasso and drinks a lake dry. Both characters leave a lasting impression from the Great Smokey Mountains to the star filled heavens above.
Critical analysis:
Swamp Angel is a fictional tall tale of frontier and pioneer life in Tennessee. The characters in Swamp Angel are larger than life. Swamp Angel is symbolic of human traits and an exaggerated strong female character. The plot is full of action involving a quest to capture a larger than life bear. The resolution is very satisfying, yet not realistic. The setting helps us to understand the context for our protagonist, is in the distant past, and time passes quickly (in a few sentences).The theme revolves around good triumphing over evil; it is strongly moral, and ends happily. The style is culturally specific, American wilderness in Tennessee, with motifs of supernatural exaggerated sizes. The style captures the sound of spoken language in print. The illustrations complement and extend the story reflecting the cultural heritage that creates the mood, pacing, and tension. Paul O. Zelinsky's folksy oil illustrations are painted on cherry, maple, or birch veneers, with old-fashioned frames; the extravagant and fanciful paintings have garnered the distinguished illustrator yet another Caldecott Honor. [1] The cultural markers are an authentic cultural representation, with a bit of exaggeration. The language and images are true, helping the reader gain insight into culture and customs.
Awards: [3]
- 1995 Caldecott Honor Book
- 1995 Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book
- 1994 ALA Notable Book
- New York Public Library, 100 Books Every Child Should Read
- New York Times Best Illustrated Books of 1994
- School Library Journal Best Books of 1994
- Booklist Children's Editors Choices 1994
- Publisher's Weekly Best Books of 1994
- Time Magazine's 8 Best Children's Books, 1994
- Parenting Magazine Reading-Magic Award, 10 Best Books of 1994
- 1995 Notable Trade Book in Language Arts, National Council of Teachers of English
- Book of the Month Club featured selection
- Japanese and Korean editions
- Featured on Storytime, PBS
- Starred reviews: Horn Book, Booklist, Kirkus, Bulletin, Publisher's Weekly, School Library Journal
Review excerpt(s):
Horn Book Magazine, 1995
Move over, Paul Bunyan, you are about to meet Swamp Angel, an original creation in the tall-tale tradition whose exploits are guaranteed to amaze and amuse a wide swath of readers. Born Angelica Longrider on August 1, 1815, she gives little indication of her future accomplishments. As her chronicler reports, "The newborn was scarcely taller than her mother and couldn't climb a tree without help." This tongue-in-cheek style is skillfully maintained throughout a rip-roaring narrative which tells of the circumstances under which Angelica is transformed into Swamp Angel, summarizes her developing abilities, and relates her greatest triumph: the defeat of a marauding bear nicknamed "Thundering Tarnation" whose thieving ways threaten the settlers' winter supplies. And that is not all. After the great contest, Swamp Angel moves to Montana and spreads the bear's pelt in front of her cabin, where it becomes the Shortgrass Prairie. The rest of Thundering Tarnation is immortalized among the constellations — a fitting conclusion to a truly remarkable tale by a first-time author. To complement the narrative, Zelinsky, working on cherry and maple veneers, employs an elegant palette, adapting elements of American folk art. His sense of line matches the exuberance of the text. Visually exciting, wonderful to read aloud, this is a picture book to remember. [5]
School Library Journal, 12/01/1994
K-Gr 3-Newborn Angelica Longrider, ``scarcely taller than her mother,'' was a ``full two years old before she built her first log cabin.'' Thus begins Isaacs's original tall tale, and she captures the cadence of the genre perfectly with its unique blend of understatement, exaggeration, and alliteration. Set in Tennessee, it is the story of a resourceful young woman who rescued wagon trains ``mired in Dejection Swamp.'' Now she has set her sights on saving settlers from an enormous black bear named Thundering Tarnation and beating the lineup of male competitors in the process. Zelinsky paints his primitive views of Americana with oil on veneer, a choice that gives each page a grainy border, well suited to this backwoods tale. A master of composition, he varies readers' perspectives by framing the portrait of the newborn and, later, the series of male hunters with small ovals. He uses double-page lunettes to depict the massive bear and woman sprawled across the pages, and places the menacing beast lunging over the frame in another memorable scene. The pictures and words cavort across the page in perfect synchronization, revealing the heroine's feisty solution. Buy for a great guffaw in small groups or one-on-one. It's an American classic in the making.-Wendy Lukehart, Dauphin County Library, Harrisburg, PA[6]
BookList, 10/15/1994
/*STARRED REVIEW*/ Ages 5-9. Forget those images of angelic maidens, ethereal and demure. Angelica Longrider is the greatest woodswoman in Tennessee. She can lasso a tornado. She can toss a bear into the sky so hard that it is still on the way up at nightfall. She snores like a locomotive in a thunderstorm. Isaacs tells her original story with the glorious exaggeration and uproarious farce of the traditional tall tale and with its typical laconic idiom--you just can't help reading it aloud. The heroine was nothing special as a newborn baby ("scarcely taller than her mother and couldn't climb a tree without help . . . She was a full two years old before she built her first log cabin"). Zelinsky's detailed oil paintings in folk-art style are exquisite, framed in cherry, maple, and birch wood grains. They are also hilarious, making brilliant use of perspective to extend the mischief and the droll understatement. Sweetfaced Angelica wears a straw bonnet and a homespun dress, but she's a stalwart savior who comes tramping out of the mist on huge bare feet to lift a wagon train from Dejection Swamp. She is bent over in many of the pictures as if too tall to fit in the elegant oval frames. Pair this picture book with Lester and Pinkney's John Henry for a gigantic tall-tale celebration. ((Reviewed October 15, 1994)) -- Hazel Rochman. Booklist, published by the American Library Association. [6]
Publishers Weekly, 10/03/1994
Zelinsky's (Rumpelstiltskin) stunning American-primitive oil paintings, set against an unusual background of cherry, maple and birch veneers, frankly steal the show here. Their success, however, does not diminish the accomplishment of Isaacs, whose feisty tall tale marks an impressive picture-book debut. Her energy-charged narrative introduces Angelica Longrider. ``On August 1, 1815,'' Isaacs begins, ``when [she] took her first gulp of air on this earth, there was nothing about the baby to suggest that she would become the greatest woodswoman in Tennessee. The newborn was scarcely taller than her mother and couldn't climb a tree without help.... She was a full two years old before she built her first log cabin.'' The story continues in this casually overstated vein, explaining how Angelica got the appellation Swamp Angel at the age of 12 after rescuing a wagon train mired in the mud. But the larger-than-life girl's reputation grows to truly gargantuan proportions when she bests an even larger bear, throwing him up in the sky, where "he crashed into a pile of stars, making a lasting impression. You can still see him there, any clear night." This valiant heroine is certain to leave youngsters chuckling-and perhaps even keeping a close watch on the night sky. Ages 5-9. (Oct.) [6]
Kirkus Reviews, 09/15/1994
This Tennessee tall tale concerns Angelina Longrider, who even as a child was a real big gal; in fact, and without being too gender-specific, she strongly resembles another wonderkid by the name of Paul Bunyan -- and she's just as much fun. Angelina -- a late bloomer -- builds her first log cabin when she's two, rescues a wagon train from Dejection Swamp (hence Swamp Angel), even tangles with wily Thundering Tarnation, a bear bent on pillaging the winter stores of all Angelina's neighbors. In an epic struggle, Angelina lays Thundering Tarnation low, stocks the whole state's larders from the bear's bounteous flanks, and creates Montana's Shortgrass Prairie from his pelt. It is impossible to convey the sheer pleasure, the exaggerated loopiness, of newcomer Isaacs's wonderful story. Matching the superb text stride for stride are Zelinsky's (The Wheels on the Bus, 1990) altered-state, American primitive paintings -- gems that provide new pleasures, reading after reading. To say that you are entering Caldecott land doesn't begin to do this book justice. Copyright 2003, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved[6]
Connections:
Related Book:
Dust Devil (New York: Atheneum, 2006), is a sequel set in Montana, where Swamp Angel goes when she is too big for Tennessee. [2]
Activities:
- Write your own tall tale. Brainstorming as a class, develop a basic tall tale idea, then assign students to write it down, working in pairs or singly. Older students can develop the idea themselves, making sure to include elements from the following checklist: amazing abilities seen at birth and early childhood; real-life landforms such as canyons or lakes explained by fictional actions of hero/heroine; basic theme of underdog beating out forces of nature that are normally impossible to stop (thunderstorms, hurricanes, tidal waves, earthquakes, etc.) [3]
- Compare Swamp Angel to another tall tale book about a traditional hero such as Paul Bunyan or Pecos Bill. Draw up lists of similarities and differences. Discuss the differences and talk about how they reflect the times in which the tales were written or developed. What is a tall tale? What is folklore? [3]
- Read a true account of the hardships of breaking the land for farms in the American wilderness. All tall tales have in common certain elements, such as one person battling a force of nature much bigger than himself, yet beating it. . How are tall tales a response to these hardships? How were tall tales designed to bring comfort and courage to settlers? [3]
Bibliographies:
Isaacs, Anne. AnneIsaccs.com (accessed June 24, 2011).
Burns, Mary M. 1995. "Swamp Angel." Horn Book Magazine 71, no. 2: 184. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed June 24, 2011).
Isaacs, Anne, and Paul O Zelinsky. 1994. Swamp Angel. Dutton Children's Books, 1994. Book Index with Reviews, EBSCOhost (accessed June 24, 2011).
[1] Amazon Review, Amazon.com
[2] Ibid.
[3] Anne Isaacs. AnneIsaccs.com
[4] Ibid.
[5] Mary M. Burns. 1995. "Swamp Angel." Horn Book Magazine 71, no. 2: 184
[6] Anne Isaacs and Paul O. Zelinsky. 1994. Swamp Angel.
