An engaging collection of traditional and original tall tales from New York State's Adirondack region, Hoop Snakes, Hide Behinds, and Side-Hill Winders (all names of legendary Adirondack creatures), was a real eye-opener for me, as I had somehow unconsciously internalized the idea that lumberjack tales were the exclusive province of the forest folklore of such northerly midwestern states as Minnesota, or Michigan. Not so, apparently! Just as the midwest had their Paul Bunyan, so did the Adirondacks have Bill Greenfield, a tall-tale-telling logger (apparently based upon an historical figure) whose exploits were first recorded in the 1930s, in Harold W. Thompson's Body, Boots, and Britches: Folktales, Ballads, and Speech from Country New York. Just as Wisconsin had its Hodag - a creature with with the head of an ox, the feet of a bear, the back of a dinosaur and the tail of an alligator - so dig the Adirondacks have its Swamp Auger, a strange creature with the head of a crocodile, and a skinny body, with knobby-kneed legs.

The first section of Hoop Snakes, Hide Behinds, and Side-Hill Winders (there are three altogether) details the exploits of Bill Greenfield, with a brief introduction to the character, and eleven tales featuring his many extraordinary adventures. Here we have the story of Bill Greenfield's Breakfast, with its creation of a gargantuan griddle for flapjacks, and its mention of a blue ox named Babe (Paul Bunyan is named in the narrative, where it is claimed that he was a somewhat younger, smaller lumberjack than Bill, who "also" had a blue ox named Babe). Bill frightens away a famous wrestler in Bill Greenfield and the Champion Wrestler, and defeats the Devil himself in Bill and the Devil. Huge mosquitoes make off with a giant sap pan in Bill Greenfield and the Mosquitoes, forming Lake Champlain in the end; while Mrs. Greenfield teaches her husband a lesson about tale-telling, in How Bill's Wife Taught Him a Thing or Two. Six other tales round out this first part of the collection, featuring Bill's unusual dog, his logging ventures, and his adoption by the bears for a few seasons.

The second section includes four original tall tales featuring Joseph Bruchac's grandfather, Jesse Bowman, a gentle man of Abenaki descent, whose role in raising the author is laid out in Bruchac's autobiography, Bowman's Store: A Journey to Myself. In Grampa Jesse and the Used Nails, Grampa Jesse's mania for saving anything that still had "some use in it" leads to an unexpected (and rather hilarious) incident involving some shingles (please don't try this at home, kids!). Grampa Jesse and the Patented Corn Planter features Grampa Jesse's weakness for anything sold by traveling salesmen, in this case, a mechanical corn planter that produces a very unusual harvest. A very clever fish named Speckly becomes Grampa Jesse's companion, in Grampa Jesse and the Bulltrout; while an odd storm, with its Adirondack Southwester-Northwester winds, leads to the loss of his chickens, in Grampa Jesse and the Chickens.

The third and final section of the book, entitled Life in the Woods, focuses on some of the legendary creatures of the Adirondacks, from the out-sized fleas and lice that inhabit the loggers themselves, in Life in the Log Camps, to the shy creatures who are always hiding behind something, in The Hide-Behind. The Swamp Auger, mentioned above, appears, as does the Side-Hill Winder, a mountain creature that has "evolved" shorter legs on one side, in order to cope with its steep habitat.

Full of exaggeration and humor, these stories are sure to please young folklore lovers, particularly those with a taste for tall tales. Children in New York state, in particular, will be glad to learn that we have our own home-grown lumberjack tradition. With an amusing text, and appealing black and white illustrations by Tom Trujillo, this is a folkloric collection I recommend - it deserves to be better known! ( )

The writing is New York state regents grade 10, but the stories are marvelous. Growngup in the Adirondacks, i do not remember hearing of the Hoop Snakes, but vaguel;y remember pictures of the side hill sidner, and do remember the hide behinds. ( )