Great illustrations in a book of small tall tales

Hurston, Z.N. (2005). Lies and other tall tales. New York: HarperCollins Children’s Books.

         Lies and Other Tall Tales was not what I was expecting it to be.  I chose this book as an example of tall tales in the traditional literature category, but it was not a book of tall tales.  This picture book contains a different lie on each page that could be turned into a tall tale, but there is no story.  For example, one page says, “That man had a wife and she was so small that she got in a storm and never got wet because she stepped between the drops.”  That’s it.  That’s the whole story.  When you turn the page, you get another sentence about something different.  I would really like to read the whole story and find out more about what happened to these characters, but as the book is now, it is not very entertaining.

         This book is a collection of sentences that Zora Neale Hurston found when talking to people from the South.  It was published by her trust in 2005, since she died in 1960.  This book is illustrated by Christopher Myers, and he does a really good job with the illustrations.  He created collages out of paper and cloth, so the illustrations have assorted textures.  The illustrations are bold and bright and they pop on the page.  Each one takes the lie on the page and makes it come to life.  The illustrations are done in a cartoon, folk art style.  The binding on this book is a hardcover.  The front flap tells a little bit about the book and the back flap tells about the author and illustrator.  Example of illustrations:

         I’m still debating whether I will return this book to Amazon or not, since it was not what I was expecting.  For an idea on how to use this book in your classroom, see my Wiki post under art.

         BIG QUESTIONS: Have you ever made up an exaggerated lie that someone believed?  What was the lie and why didn’t you tell the truth?