Swamp Angel

Isaacs, Anne
Zelinsky, Paul
3-5
Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, 2006
Caldecott Award

Swamp Angel is about a girl named Angelica Longrider. When she was born she was taller than her mother. She was born in Tennesee. There was a bunch of wagons that were stuck in a swamp and she came to help them get their wagons out. She simply picked them up and sat them back on the road. The people thought that she was an angel, and then began calling her Swamp Angel. Then there was a huge bear loose. They called him the Thundering Tarnation. All the men set out to capture the bear and Angelica was the only female. She restled with the bear for days. She threw him into the sky, and fought him in a lake. Finally a tree landed on him and killed the bear. The whole town had a feast, and she kept his pelt as a rug, and moved to Montana.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I liked how the author talked the way southern people talked. I liked how he incoportated the Montana prarie grass, and the star constellations as well. Those were really neat connections. And of course the pictures were my favorite because i always love the illustrations. These illustrations really set the mood for the story.

I would use this in my classroom. You could use it when talking about different parts of the US, and look at the dialect that is used. I also like how as a girl she stood up to those men. I think that it is important to teach young girls that they can do anything boys can do. Overall I really enjoyed this book and look forward to sharing it with my class.