Porch Lies

Listeners and their children will enjoy Patricia McKissack's stories so much they might not even notice how this Caldecott winner has subtly woven in African-American history. Take "Aunt Gran," for example, a former slave who allows her home to become a hideout for Jesse James, who is masquerading as a traveling businessman. In explaining this decision to her nephew, she says she will not abandon someone who has placed trust in her for any amount of reward money; her family once felt betrayed when a woman who had been hiding escaped slaves turned them in for reward money. The Ku Klux Klan also figures in the story. Perfect for listeners of all ages. E.D.R. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Starred review from July 10, 2006
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 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.