Swamp Angel

• Title: Swamp Angel
• Author: Anne Isaacs
• Illustrator: Paul O. Zelinsky
• Publisher: Puffin Books, Penguin Group
• Publication year: 1994
• Brief Summary: From Penguin Random House-“Swamp Angel can lasso a tornado, and drink an entire lake dry. She single-handedly defeats the fearsome bear known as Thundering Tarnation, wrestling him from the top of the Great Smoky Mountains to the bottom of a deep lake. Caldecott Medal-winning artist Paul O. Zelinsky’s stunning folk-art paintings are the perfect match for the irony, exaggeration, and sheer good humor of this original tall tale set on the American frontier.”
• Ideas for using this book in classroom or library – This book could be used in conjunction when Paul Bunyan is being recounted in school or preschool. This is a twist on Paul Bunyan as obviously, our protagonist is a woman, and a woman who has the physicality to battle a bear (some woman empowerment anyone?).
• Whatever additional notes you’d like to add about this book and why you liked or didn’t like it – Once again, Zelinsky’s illustrations are engaging and colorful. There are so many details hidden within Zelinsky’s illustrations that really expand or go beyond the text.