WHAT IT IS: This fun and hilarious musical play helps you teach the standards while bringing your classroom to life! Easy-to-do play comes with script, audio CD, and teacher's guide. NO music or drama experience is required¿you don't have to sing or play a note! Go big and perform on stage, keep it simple with a classroom performance, or simply do reader's theater in class. No fancy sets, costumes, or performance spaces are needed, so it's all up to you! Flexible casting for 8-40 students and permission to edit the script and songs make it easy to tailor the play to the needs of your class and community. Your purchase of one copy per teacher includes permission to photocopy the script for students. /// WHAT IT TEACHES: "America's Tallest Tales" takes kids on a delightful journey featuring the stars of America's folktales, including Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, Johnny Appleseed, Annie Christmas, Bess Call, and many more. 25 minutes; grades 2-6. /// SYNOPSIS: Babe the Blue Ox is missing, and Paul Bunyan will stop at nothing to find him. He teams up with Bess Call, the strong-armed heroine of the Adirondacks, on a quest to find his beloved companion. /// WHAT IT DOES: "America's Tallest Tales" is a great complement to your curriculum resources in language arts. And, like all Bad Wolf Press plays, this show can be used to improve reading comprehension, vocabulary, performance and speaking skills, class camaraderie and teamwork, and school engagement and parental involvement¿all while enabling students to be part of a truly fun and creative experience they will never forget!

When Bella boards a train west to reunite with her Buffalo soldier sweetheart, she encounters the most colorful and lively characters ever to roam the Western plains. Bullets and fists will fly, heads and hearts will break, but—blessed with a big heart, and a voluptuous figure—Bella will breeze on through it all.

A collection of American tall tales featuring such legendary characters as Davy Crockett, Paul Bunyan, and Pecos Bill.

The Tall Book is a celebration of the tall-advantaged, which notes and explores the myriad benefits that come with living large--from the simple pleasures of being able to see over crowds at a parade, to the professional joys of earning more money, and having others perceive you as a natural leader. The Tall Book also offers well-researched explanations into the great unanswered questions of tallness, including: Why are people tall to begin with? How have tall people figured throughout history? Why are CEOs so tall? And how does tallness affect the dating game? Filled with illustrative graphics, charts, and piles of tall miscellanea and factoids, The Tall Book is a wonderful and much-needed exploration of life from on high.

Now the littlest readers can learn about how the Statue of Liberty came to be—and what it means to people all over the world. In this engaging book, preschoolers will learn the fascinating story behind the creation of the Statue of Liberty. Simple words and bright artwork bring to life the story of the people—a professor, a sculptor, a poet, a newspaperman—who helped establish this famous landmark. Little ones will learn that the torch was created first, in time for America's 100th birthday, and displayed in a park. And they'll gain a clear understanding of what the Statue of Liberty has always meant to people around the world. Fun facts, such as how schoolchildren gave their pennies to help pay for the base of the statue, complete this charming nonfiction Little Golden Book.

You'd better believe Slappy Hooper was the world's biggest, fastest, bestest sign painter. He was bestest because no one else ever made pictures so true to life. But some folks said they were too good when the pictures started coming alive! Will Slappy have to give up sign painting for good? Or will a couple of timely jobs from the Heavenly Sign Company let him climb to even greater heights? Find out in this delightful tall tale from mid-20th-century Chicago. TEACHERS AND LIBRARIANS -- A READER'S THEATER SCRIPT OF THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE IN AARON'S BOOK "FOLKTALES ON STAGE," OR FREE ON AARON'S WEB SITE. ///////////////////////////////////////////////// Aaron Shepard's many books for young people have won honors from the American Library Association, the New York Public Library, the Bank Street College of Education, the American Folklore Society, and the National Council for the Social Studies. Once a professional storyteller, he specializes in lively retellings of folktales and other traditional literature. Toni Goffe is the illustrator and sometimes author of many well-loved children's books, including Aaron's "The Legend of Lightning Larry" and Toni's own "Joe Giant's Missing Boot," used in the UK national reading curriculum. He is the winner of the 1993 Gold Medallion Book Award. ///////////////////////////////////////////////// "Goffe's freewheeling cartoons perfectly complement this well-told, amiably satirical tale." -- Kirkus Reviews, Sept. 1, 1993 "Good-humored . . . Lots of possibilities for story hour." -- Booklist, Nov. 1, 1993 "A cheerful, upbeat, all-American legend. Have fun with it." -- Katy Rydell, Stories, Fall 1993 "Delightful . . . [A] welcome addition to the list of American tall tales." -- The Story Bag, Special Review Issue ///////////////////////////////////////////////// SAMPLE You've heard about Paul Bunyan, the greatest lumberjack of all time. And you've heard about Pecos Bill, the greatest cowboy. Now let me tell you about Slappy Hooper, the world's biggest, fastest, bestest sign painter. You'd better believe Slappy was biggest! Why, he was seven feet tall with shoulders to match, and he weighed three hundred pounds, even without his cap and coverall and brush and bucket. And fastest? Just give him an eight-inch brush. Slip! slop! slap! The job was done -- and so smooth, you'd never see a brush stroke. And you bet Slappy was bestest! That was on account of his pictures. No one else ever made them so true to life. In fact, some folks said they were too true to life. Slappy's trouble started with the huge red rose he painted on the sign for Rose's Florist Shop. "Slappy, it's so real!" said Miss Rose Red, the owner. "Why, I can just about smell the fragrance!" But a week later, Rose Red fluttered into Slappy's sign shop. "Slappy, that sign of yours was too good. The bees got wind of it and swarmed all over that rose, trying to get in. They scared away all my customers! That was bad enough, but wait till you see what's happened now!" When they reached the florist shop, Slappy saw that the bees were gone. But the rose had withered and died. "No one buys from a florist with a withered flower on her sign," said Rose Red. "That's the last thing you'll paint for me, Slappy Hooper!"

A fascinating survey of the entire history of tall tales, folklore, and mythology in the United States from earliest times to the present, including stories and myths from the modern era that have become an essential part of contemporary popular culture. Folklore has been a part of American culture for as long as humans have inhabited North America, and increasingly formed an intrinsic part of American culture as diverse peoples from Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania arrived. In modern times, folklore and tall tales experienced a rejuvenation with the emergence of urban legends and the growing popularity of science fiction and conspiracy theories, with mass media such as comic books, television, and films contributing to the retelling of old myths. This multi-volume encyclopedia will teach readers the central myths and legends that have formed American culture since its earliest years of settlement. Its entries provide a fascinating glimpse into the collective American imagination over the past 400 years through the stories that have shaped it. Organized alphabetically, the coverage includes Native American creation myths, "tall tales" like George Washington chopping down his father's cherry tree and the adventures of "King of the Wild Frontier" Davy Crockett, through to today's "urban myths." Each entry explains the myth or legend and its importance and provides detailed information about the people and events involved. Each entry also includes a short bibliography that will direct students or interested general readers toward other sources for further investigation. Special attention is paid to African American folklore, Asian American folklore, and the folklore of other traditions that are often overlooked or marginalized in other studies of the topic.

Recounts the life of the extraordinary lumberjack whose unusual size and strength brought him many fantastic adventures.

This wonderful book is a collection of nine tall tales from America by renowned children’s author Irwin Shapiro: Pecos Bill, Anthony and the Mossbunker, Old Stormalong, Johnny Appleseed, Davy Crockett, the Yaller Blossom o’ the Forest, Sam Patch’s Last Leap, Paul Bunyan, John Henry and Joe Magarac the Steel Man. Illustrated throughout by Al Schmidt.

Tony Fredericks presents a collection of best loved stories in the popular readers theatre format to integrate with the United States history and language arts curriculum in the upper elementary and middle school grades. This collection of over 20 well-known and not-so-well-known tales will be invaluable to teachers in American schools as they do their usual units of study in American history and literature. Plays focus on entertaining folklore, tall tales, and legends to aid teachers in building fluency skills in their young readers. Included are tips for introducing and using Readers Theatre with students in grades 4-8.