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Beanie is called too young for corn planting. Grandpa is call too old. So they’resharing a back step, and a sigh, and…a story.  It’s a wild one, sure to cheer anybody up, about Indiana in 1928, “the year of no more corn,” when the rains came and floated half the people in the state over into Ohio. “A bunch of them still live there to this day.” “Is that right, Old Grandpa?” You bet  and that’s just the beginning of a yarn taller than corn itself, about rain and wind and blazing sun, about fish and chickens and fat, fat crows, and about what happened next.

Lesson Planner –  Handout

Clemmon Hardigree’s potatoes are the size of boulders. Also, they MOO! How they got that way makes for a funny tall tale about mountain luck, mountain farming, mountain cows (who have short legs in the front and long ones in the back so they can stand level on a hillside), the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, and Tennessee’s stingiest timber baron.

Read this one aloud, hold up the funny pictures, and just TRY to keep a straight face!

Lesson Planner –  Handout

It was the Christmas that almost wasn’t. The weather that year was crazy – why, up at the North Pole, it was so hot, Santa’s elves weren’t in the mood to make toys. So Santa moved his whole workshop to a small town in Indiana, where it was plenty cold. In fact, it was too cold to snow – and, come to find out, Santa’s elves needed to see SNOW to be in the mood to make toys. So, the young hero figures out just how to get that snow – and it’s a wild tall tale, too. Full of nonsense, fun, and, finally – snow!! This hilarious tall tale will keep young readers giggling – and get even the Scroogiest old codgers in the mood for Christmas!!

Lesson Planner –  Handout

“In the bare bones beginning, Armadillo’s ears were tall as a jack rabbit’s and wide as a steer’s horns.” With such wonderful ears, Armadillo loved nothing better than spying on other animals and telling tales about what he heard.  Then Armadillo gets an earful all his very own.

This humorous tale is a lyrical lesson in just how fast stretching the truth is likely to cause one humongous armadillo ruckus. As Armadillo peeps and creeps, children will giggle, and also learn a basic lesson in thoughtfulness and respect.

Lesson Planner

Heatwave is the store of a battle of wits between a determined young girl and a wild fluke of nature played out across acres of rich Kansas farmland. The Heat Wave causes havoc at the farm – flowers pull themselves up by their roots and crawl under the porch to get in the shade – and that’s only PART of it!

This hilarious tall tale is GUARANTEED to keep young readers giggling, turning the pages, and begging to read it again!

Bubba is bossed around the family ranch by his wicked step daddy and his nasty stepbrothers, Dwayne and Milton. Bubba never complains, though. He’s a real cowboy – tough as leather and cute as a cow’s ear!

When Miz Lurleen, the purtiest rancher in Texas, decides to throw a ball to find herself a feller, Bubba has to stay at home. “You smell more like the cattle than the cattle do,” taunt Dwayne and Milton.

But with the help of Bubba’s FAIRY GODCOW, and a little Texas magic, Miz Lurleen finds the cowboy Prince she’s always dreamed of. With it’s western language and humor, the Texas retelling of Cinderella will really rope in the readers.

Lesson Planner

Every weekend Audie wakes up at dawn and helps his father on their farm, each time receiving a quarter, which he saves in a cigar box under his bed. He dreams of one day traveling to the city to see a baseball game and of buying a baseball glove of his own. But it seems there’s “always too much work and too little money.”

One Saturday Audie’s wish comes true. His father needs new work boots, so the two travel to the city to buy a new pair, and best of all, to see the Reds play baseball. Audie stuffs his savings in an envelope, hoping to buy a glove.

But what the boy remembers most about this memorable day isn’t the smell of hot dogs and onions at the stadium, or the umpire’s voice yelling “Play ball!”, or even the look and feel of a brand new glove. Instead, it is a special gift from father to son that makes this day one he will never forget.

This heartwarming story about a father’s love is luminously captured in Greg Shed’s sensitive paintings.

Lesson Planner

Mudville is a dream come true for Shoeshine Whittaker. “The streets were muddy, the wooden sidewalks were cruddy, the houses were dusty, and people’s shoes were crusty.” Shoeshine knows he has FINALLY hit pay dirt.

Problem is, the people of Mudville are darn hard to please. They think the guarantee of a top-notch shoeshine means their shoes will stay clean for life!

A muddy mob isn’t a pretty sight, but luckily, Shoeshine is as clever as he is honest. Using good old American ingenuity, he comes up with a plan that saves his skin, makes some money, and leaves behind an entire town of satisfied customers. The funny twist will keep young readers laughing!