Book Description
for Swamp Angel by Anne Isaacs and Paul O. Zelinsky
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
"On August 1, 1815, when Angelica Longrider took her first gulp of air on this earth, there was nothing to suggest that she would become the greatest woodswoman in Tennessee. The newborn was scarcely taller than her mother and couldn't climb a tree without help." So begins this original tall tale about a woman who'd give Paul Bunyan a run for his money. Isaac's amusing, folksy account centers on Angelica's magnificent battle with a huge bear known as Thundering Tarnation who'd been terrorizing the whole state of Tennessee -- that is, until he crossed paths with the great woodswoman nicknamed "Swamp Angel." Zelinsky's brilliantly rendered illustrations were painted with oils on cherry, maple, and birch veneers, as would befit the greatest of Tennessee woodswomen. His wry, larger-than-life depictions of the Swamp Angel and her "most wondrous heap of trouble" provide the perfect complement to Anne Isaacs' delightful story. (Ages 3-8)
CCBC Choices 1994. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 1994. Used with permission.