Tall Tales Versus Truth

What a discussion we had today! Not one part of the discussion was planned, it just happened. We were going through life and poof! we learned something new. Well, some of us did. The others, we were just reminded of what we all ready knew. This is the the learning I like best because I know they got it. New concept. Discussion. Application. Learned.

It all started with a trip to the library, like most of our learning. We checked out some interesting books, came home and read. Here is the list of the books in our bag:

Pecos Bill: A Tall Tale reold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg
Paul Bunyan: A Tall Tale retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg
American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osborne

We read these and other tall tales. While reading, one listener said, "That doesn't sound like it can be true?" How right she was! I asked her what she thought was not true and why. She answered. Then we talked about how authors use exaggeration to tell a story, to make it interesting to the reader. Exaggeration, used as a literary device is used to stretch the truth.

Well, this was a great lead for a discussion. I asked more questions. What is truth? How do we know something is true? Where can we look if we want to know if something is true?

We finished our conversation. Later, we learned more about one of the authors. That link is below.

http://www.stevenkellogg.com/page2.html