Porch lies : tales of slicksters, tricksters, and other wily characters

by McKissack, Pat, 1944-2017

Format: Print Book 2006
Availability: Available at 7 Libraries 7 of 7 copies
Available (7)
Location Collection Call #
Braddock Carnegie Library Juvenile Fiction J F MCK
Location  Braddock Carnegie Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Call Number  J F MCK
 
 
C.C. Mellor Memorial Library Children Fiction J McK
Location  C.C. Mellor Memorial Library
 
Collection  Children Fiction
 
Call Number  J McK
 
 
CLP - East Liberty Children's Fiction Collection qj Fic McKissac
Location  CLP - East Liberty
 
Collection  Children's Fiction Collection
 
Call Number  qj Fic McKissac
 
 
CLP - Homewood Children's Fiction Collection qj Fic McKissac
Location  CLP - Homewood
 
Collection  Children's Fiction Collection
 
Call Number  qj Fic McKissac
 
 
CLP - Main Library First Floor Children's Department - Closed Stack Area qj Fic McKissac
Location  CLP - Main Library
 
Collection  First Floor Children's Department - Closed Stack Area
 
Call Number  qj Fic McKissac
 
 
CLP - Sheraden Children's Fiction Collection qj FICTION McKissack
Location  CLP - Sheraden
 
Collection  Children's Fiction Collection
 
Call Number  qj FICTION McKissack
 
 
Northland Public Library Children's Fiction J FIC MCKISSACK
Location  Northland Public Library
 
Collection  Children's Fiction
 
Call Number  J FIC MCKISSACK
 
 
Summary
Side-splittingly funny, spine-chillingly spooky, this companion to a Newbery Honor-winning anthology The Dark Thirty is filled with bad characters who know exactly how to charm.

From the author's note that takes us back to McKissack's own childhood when she would listen to stories told on her front porch... to the captivating introductions to each tale, in which the storyteller introduces himself and sets the stage for what follows... to the ten entertaining tales themselves, here is a worthy successor to McKissack's The Dark Thirty . In " The Best Lie Ever Told ," meet Dooley Hunter, a trickster who spins an enormous whopper at the State Liar's contest. In " Aunt Gran and the Outlaws," watch a little old lady slickster outsmart Frank and Jesse James. And in " Cake Norris Lives On," come face to face with a man some folks believe may have died up to twenty-seven different times!
Contents
When Pete Bruce came to town
Change
The devil's guitar
Aunt Gran and the outlaws
By the weight of a feather
A grave situation
The best lie ever told
The earth bone and the King of the Ghosts
Cake Norris lives on, part one
Cake Norris lives on, part two.

Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "Gr. 3-5. Like McKissack's award-winning The Dark Thirty 0 (1992), the nine original tales in this uproarious collection draw on African American oral tradition and blend history and legend with sly humor, creepy horror, villainous characters, and wild farce. McKissack based the stories on those she heard as a child while sitting on her grandparents' porch; now she is passing them on to her grandchildren. Without using dialect, her intimate folk idiom celebrates the storytelling among friends, neighbors, and family as much as the stories themselves. "Some folk believe the story; some don't. You decide for yourself." Is the weaselly gravedigger going to steal a corpse's jewelry, or does he know the woman is really still alive? Can bespectacled Aunt Gran outwit the notorious outlaw Jesse James? In black and white, Carrilho's full-page illustrations--part cartoon, part portrait in silhouette--combine realistic characters with scary monsters. History is always in the background (runaway slaves, segregation cruelty, white-robed Klansmen), and in surprising twists and turns that are true to trickster tradition, the weak and exploited beat powerful oppressors with the best lies ever told. Great for sharing, on the porch and in the classroom. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2006 Booklist"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "As McKissack (The Dark-Thirty) opens this treasure chest of tales, she recalls spending summer evenings on her grandparents' front porch in Nashville, where her grandfather and visitors would share spellbinding "porch lies," comically exaggerated stories that often centered on rogues and rascals. The author then presents her own variations on such yarns, "expand[ing] the myths, legends, and historical figures who often appear in the African American oral tradition" to create a sparkling array of porch lies, brimming with beguiling tricksters. McKissack sets the domestic scene for each by describing the porch visitor who first related the tale. A standout features wise, sassy Aunt Gran, who outsmarts Frank and Jesse James, manipulating the bandits into running out of town the racist villain who salted her well in hopes of procuring her property. Other memorable characters include the conniving used-car salesman who is brought to judgment quite humorously on the eve of his wedding; the truth-twisting fellow who wins the liars' contest at the state fair with the line, "I aine never told a lie before"; and a famous blues harmonica player, who wreaks such havoc in the holding station en route to heaven-or the alternative-that he's sent back to earth. Aunt Gran, slyly telling the James brothers a tale that will convince them to help her, notes, "Some folk believe the story; some don't. You decide for yourself." Readers of these spry tall tales will have a grand time doing just that. Ages 8-12. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Additional Information
Subjects Children's stories, American.
African Americans -- Juvenile fiction.
African Americans -- Fiction.
Short stories.
Publisher New York :Schwartz & Wade Books,2006
Edition 1st ed.
Contributors Carrilho, André.
Language English
Description xii, 146 pages : illustrations ; 28 cm
ISBN 9780375836190 (hc)
0375836195 (hc)
9780375836190
Other Classic View