Customer Reviews

Mountain Jack Tales

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I don't know what that reviewer was thinking who rated this book one star, she must have had a bone to pick. I've read many volumes of folktales from all over the world, and this one's a gem. It borrows classic themes in folk literature and lets them float down through an Appalachian sifter. And the wood engravings are wonderful and apt given the great wood carvings from eastern North Carolina and the Smokies. I didn't grow up in this part of the country but didn't find the language obtuse. Besides, there's a great glossary of terms in the back. Well worth a read. I'm adding this one to my collection!

Written and illustrated by puppeteer, storyteller, and children's author Gail E. Haley, Mountain Jack Tales is a simply wonderful collection of short stories written in the classic style of the great folklore yarns of old, and focusing on the adventurer called Mountain Jack, and his fantastic exploits against ogres, card sharks, stubborn witches, and even Old Man Death himself. Flavorful and upbeat language mark this highly enjoyable, enthusiastically recommended compendium of original tall tales that are certain to entertain and please readers of all ages!

What else is there to say? The author has written some moving and accessible writing that makes the tales leap out of the page.

This was a mediocre retelling in which the author chose to have a narrator tell the tales in an Appalachian dialect. I am an Appalachian mountain girl myself, and still had occasionally difficulty understanding. I can only imagine the reaction from one who did not grow up hearing this language. The tales themselves were clinical, sterile retellings with no life in them and the overall result was a dismal disappointment.