Swamp Angel by Anne Isaacs

1. Bibliography:

Isaacs, Anne. 2004. Swamp Angel. New York, NY: Puffin Books. ISBN 0140559086

2. Plot Summary:

From birth, Angelica Longrider was a giant who used her strength to help her community. At age twelve she saved many settlers from Dejection Swamp and earned the nickname Swamp Angel. The heroine decides to join the ranks of men who are trying to kill Thundering Tarnation, a enormous bear who has been terrorizing the Tennessee settlers. While others fail in their attempts to capture the bear, Swamp Angel encounters him while dozing and engages in days of battle with Tarnation before they both fall asleep. Swamp Angel’s snoring causes the last tree in the forest to fall, landing right on top of Thundering Tarnation, killing him. The Tennessee settlers celebrate with a feast of bear steaks and bear cakes and store the leftovers just before snowfall. Thundering Tarnation’s pelt was too large for Tennessee so Angelica moved to Montana, laying the pelt in front of her cabin. Nowadays, “folks call it the Shortgrass Prairie.”

3. Critical Analysis:

Author Anne Isaacs tells an original story of a Tennessee girl whose large size comes in handy for the backwoods Tennessee settlers. The characters are not overly complicated, with each main character depicting good (Swamp Angel) or evil (Thundering Tarnation). The battle between good and evil is eminent, and as in many tall tales, good triumphs evil in the end. The resolution, like the conflict, is larger than life and everyone is overjoyed. Rich vocabulary gives the reader a sense of the distant past and creates an exciting story for young readers.

While mentions of the bogs and wilderness are provided in the text, it is the beautiful illustrations by Paul O. Zelinsky that bring the Tennessee setting to life. Through the illustrations, the audience is able to gain insight into the cultural aspects of life as a settler in the 1800s.

4. Awards and/or Review Excerpts:

· Recipient of the 1994 Caldecott Honor

· From SLJ: “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.”

· Starred review from Horn Book: “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. . . Visually exciting, wonderful to read aloud, this is a picture book to remember.”

5. Connections:

· Use as part of a Tall Tale unit with other stories such as Julius Lester’s John Henry, Thunder Rose by Jerdine Nolen or any of Steven Kellogg’s tall tales.

· Have students write other Swamp Angel stories that explain why something happened in the United States, like the creation Tornado Alley.

6. Personal Response:

I did not enjoy this story. I found it to be very long and it did not hold my attention. I actually read it in two different sittings because I was not engaged. Although, the illustrations are pretty, I didn’t find them overwhelmingly beautiful or worthy of a Caldecott honor (however, I am not a professional book critic!)

Tall tales in general are not very interesting to me, so this may have contributed to my lack of interest. Hopefully my critical analysis seems impartial as I tried very hard to keep an open mind when reviewing for the necessary elements.