Porch Lies: Tales of Slicksters, Tricksters, and Other Wily Characters

Bibliographic Information
McKissack, Patricia C. 2006. PORCH LIES: TALES OF SLICKESTERS, TRICKSTERS AND OTHER WILY CHARACTERS. Illus. by André Carrilho. Schwartz & Wade Books. New York, NY. ISBN 037593619X

Plot Summary
Ten tales that a woman heard when she was a little girl sitting on the porch of her grandparents house in Tennessee is the basis for this collection of tall tales. Except for the nonsense tale The Earth Bone and the King of Ghosts, every other story offers a life lesson hidden in the extraordinary folds of a well-developed tale. In the mood for a ghost story? A Grave Situation will offer just the right blend of doubt and faith to stir your heart strings and make you rethink every promise you make. Prefer a slide-splitting yarn? The Greatest Lie Ever Told and The Earth Bone and the King of Ghosts will deliver plenty of smiles. Want to root for the underdog and have a happy ending? Change and the remaining stories in this collection will deliver a whopping good time.

Critical Analysis
The black and white that is often used to judge good and bad, and race, is exposed in these masterfully crafted pictures of the misguided heroes of these tales. The shading in each of these pictures provides a parallel to each hero in the story: while most of the background is in white, the degree of detail shows us a visual balance of black and white in each portrait. This visual symbolism is of the theme is eloquently stated in the tale Cake Norris Lives On: “He aine good enough or bad enough to live in either place [heaven or hell].” All people have good qualities and qualities that they are trying to improve. Each story sheds light on various facets of this fact in these masterfully crafted African-American tales. The tale Change, for example, exposes the concept of truth, and how although a person tries to believe the good in people, their own misguided opinions can overshadow reality. Aunt Gran and the Outlaws is a perfect example of giving each person the benefit of the doubt. Although Aunt Gran is repeated warned that the two business men of Tom and John Howard are the notorious thieves Frank and Jesse James, she insists on allowing her to form her opinion of them based on how they act to her. This lesson alone is worth it’s weight in gold, especially for young children who are taught the message that different is bad so terrifyingly early in their lives. The picture of Dooly Hunter at the microphone telling the best lie ever told, from the story of the same name, is a seamless blend of cartoon, real-life-picture, and air spray paint. Isn’t that the definition of human nature? Fantasy, reality and a bit of coloring; either rose red tinting of an optimistic nature or dreary grey of the sky-is-falling-in persuasion. Written with charm, wit, and truth, the only disappointing thing about this book is that it lacks a second volume.

Review Excerpts
*School Library Journal: “These 10 literate stories make for great leisure listening and knowing chuckles. …They contain the ‘essence of truth but are fiction from beginning to end,’ an amalgam of old stories, characters, jokes, setups, and motifs. As such, they have no provenance. Still, it would have helped readers unfamiliar with African-American history to have an author's note helping separate the "truth" of these lies that allude to Depression-era African-American and Southern traditions. That aside, they're great fun to read aloud and the tricksters, sharpies, slicksters, and outlaws wink knowingly at the child narrators, and at us foolish humans.”
*Kirkus Reviews: “These tales all lend themselves to telling or reading aloud, and carry the common theme that even the worst rascals have saving graces.”
*Hornbook: “It’s a clever idea: McKissack presents ten original trickster stories tailored for children with a child narrator in each one, for immediate and lasting identification. McKissack contextualizes the stories, too, more fully and circumstantially than she did in The Dark-Thirty. “The Best Lie Ever Told” (“I aine never told no lie before”) scores on its crafty staging; and the concluding two-part story about rascally Cake Norris, on the ascent into Heaven and the descent into Hell, is a humdinger. Grandly melodramatic black-and-white illustrations capture the mood of the stories and the flavor of the period.”

Connections
In a series of three lessons, present a selection or two from PORCH LIES to students.
Lesson 1
Decorate the area as if you are a cavewoman living in the time of prehistoric man. Set up a campfire and perhaps tie fake animal fabric over your clothes toga style. Silently greet your students by leading them to sit in a circle around the campfire. Using only grunts and body language, explain to the students the story of a simple hunt. Be sure to exaggerate your facial expressions and gestures and if possible use prop animals to explain how you waited in the bush and were able to spear and antelope. Once you have finished, you now begin to speak and allow the children to know you are back to yourself again. Ask what the students saw in the story. Explain this is how stories were shared hundreds of years ago. If time permits, have students act out simple pantomime situations such as the following:
Lost a tooth
Got a surprise present
Lost the ‘big’ game
Tripped and got an injury
Won a game of checkers

Lesson 2
Now decorate your area as if you are in an Indian tipi. It will help if you have such artifacts present as a peace pipe, sage, or authentic deerskin clothing. Present a book on Native American lore or tell one story from a collection (see previous blog posting). After you have shared this tale, make a venn diagram showing the differences and similarities of both the tale in the cave and the tale in the tipi. If time permits, take a few moments to display some of the items you have brought with you. Remember that some children are tactile learners and love to touch and handle objects for better understanding! Then, allow at least 15 minutes for a discussion on what types of objects have special importance in their home. Invite children to share their objects, their meanings, and why it is so important within their culture. If you are comfortable talking about a diverse group of cultures, you are helping children to become better ease with it as well.
Lesson 3
Invite a storyteller to share one or two of the stories from PORCH LIES. Once the tale(s) is(are) finished, either you or the storyteller should emphasize what character traits are considered to be valued and appreciated within this little girl’s porch time. If you share the story Change, be sure to discuss honesty with students. Next, follow up with questions such as how this can be an important trait today. Ask students to share a time when they were honest. Did they feel good about themselves? Explain this is being proud of your choices and assure them when they are proud of themselves, their parents, friends, and teachers are proud of them, too.