Too Colloquial
I bought this book for my bilingual children hoping to supply them with some good old Americana. I remembered liking tall tales as a child and thought my own kids would get a kick out them, too. Unfortunately, the words and even the sentences were far too colloquial for them to understand let alone enjoy (we don't live in the US although we are an American family). I tried to simplfy the expressions but even so my children just looked at me in bafflement. For example, they couldn't understand why it would be a super feat or even funny to swallow a big pot of hot beans. (Guess that shows more about my kids than the book...) Maybe the humor was too local. Maybe my children have become blase from all the superhero films, but the fact remains that they weren't too impressed with Pecos Bill. Neither was I.
The story was sketchy and erratic. It was more a list of his deeds than any real story. However, this would be a great book for someone from Texas who would recognize the vocabulary and maybe the legend.
The illustrations were attractive and stylized, although a little overwrought (exaggerated expressions and uncuddly characters). This is not necessarily bad, given the nature of the story...
