Module 2/Genre 2 - Traditional Literature

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

Bibliography

McKissack, Pat, and André Carrilho. 2006. Porch lies: tales of slicksters, tricksters, and other wily characters. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books. ISBN 0375836195

Plot Summary

Porch Lies: Tales of Slicksters, Tricksters, and Other Wily Characters is a collection of folk stories adapted from stories that the author, Patricia C. McKissack, heard on her grandparents’ front porch in Tennessee. She captures the essence of the tales she heard growing up. The stories are early 1900 African American renditions of funny, scary, or clever stories. The cleverest story is one of Aunt Gran and the Outlaws. In this story the genius Aunt Gran figures out how to get Frank and Jesse James to help run the local “klan” out and stop them from practically stealing land from the “black folk”.

Critical Analysis

The author’s note at the beginning of the book is a very interesting addition that sets the scene on the stories she heard as a child and anyone can practically imagine themselves sitting on the warm Nashville porch sipping lemonade with her and her grandparents. McKissack also gives the background on every story so the characters are already defined once the story begins. This helps convey the necessary character background to help the story make sense.

The stories in the book are not well known ones, but everyone can relate to and cheer for the good guy prevailing in the end, the oppressors not prospering, and the fallen given a second chance. The way these tales are spun really allows the reader to feel like they are there on the porch just waiting for the next word to be spoken. Also, the setting of the time is very much communicated through the stories like Aunt Gran and others in her community fighting to keep their land from a greedy racist or Pete Bruce conning his way into four free slices of pie and a bottle of milk during the depression.

McKissack also uses a very real and believable southern dialect. The black and white illustrations are a bit odd, which makes them great on the scarier stories. Some of the quirkier ones are almost disturbing as the artist, Andre Carrilho, uses distorted faces and cartoon animals in very striking pictures.

Overall, this collection of tales is very enjoyable and fun to read. Any class or group of children would be captivated by these tales of the past.

Review Excerpts

BookList: “History is always in the background (runaway slaves, segregation cruelty, white-robed Klansmen), and in surprising twists and turns that are true to trickster tradition, the weak and exploited beat powerful oppressors with the best lies ever told.”
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.”
School Library Journal: “These 10 literate stories make for great leisure listening and knowing chuckles.”

Connections

Have students pick one of the stories from this collection and have them tell the story without reading it. Teach them about oral history and stories like this and how this used to be the only way people knew of stories.

With a junior high history class discuss some of the background issues after reading the stories with them. This could be a good start of a discussion about the time between slavery and civil rights.

Share other Patricia C. McKissak books with your children:
The Honest-to-Goodness Truth ISBN 0689853955
Color Me Dark: the Diary of Nellie Lee Love, the Great Migration North ISBN 0590511599
The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural (Coretta Scott King Award) ISBN 0780768167