Sandspun

Book Overview

Folktales teach, inform, and heal. Most of all, they entertain. Here's a collection of tales rich with homespun humor, charm, and wisdom--all told with flair by some of Florida's best and most sought-after storytellers. Their stories will make you feel part of the great "family" that is Florida. If it's spooky ghost stories you crave, let "The Silent Customer," "Kissimmee Bound," and "The Ghost Dog of the Biltmore" chill your spine. Heed the Cracker wisdom handed down in "Seek the Higher Ground," cow-hunter poetry with a message. Chuckle over the misadventures of Flossie, Bubba, and Flo in "Three Little Cracker Pigs," a tongue-in-cheek version of the classic children's tale. Test your wits against the little troll in "Angelina and Cigam." Will he have you running in circles, growing smaller with each snap of his fingers? Take "Cousin Cassie's Cookin" with a grain of salt. It's not true, of course. Then again, if Cassie asks you to dinner, say you have other plans.

Many Indian legends attempt to explain why the world exists as it is. In this tradition, several tales target specific flukes of nature--the rabbit's short tail, the flamingo's long neck, the woodpecker's lack of song--and offer entertaining reasons for their existence. Discover these legends too: "The Devil's Millhopper," "The Legend of Lake Okeechobee," "Monkey, the Trickster," "Why Florida Key Deer Are So Small."

A few history lessons never hurt anyone, and these are entertaining as well. Jonathan Dickinson, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Jake Summerlin have a thing or two to teach you about overcoming adversity and being resourceful.

Settle back into your easy chair and let these tales entertain you.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1561642428
• ISBN13: 9781561642427
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Pineapple Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Sandspun is a Treasure Chest of Florida Folklore

The newest anthology of Florida tales by the best of Flordia storytellers is a delight to read, not only entertaining but educational. There is humor in tales like Three Little Cracker Pigs, ghost stories like Ghost Dog of the Biltmore, personal stories like Three Little Words, Urban legends like the Silent Customer, pour quois tales like The Tale of Rabbit's Tail. What I like about reading anthologies is I get a taste of many authors and if I have only a few minutes, like waiting at a doctor's office or business, I can get an entire story read.These stories are so good you'll want to read them over and over, tell them in your own words to your children and grandchildren, or over coffee. Annette Bruce and Stephen Brooks, both storytellers have selected storytellers from Miami to the Panhandle. Every library should have a copy. Storytellers, media specialists and public speakers can make good use of stories from Sandspun. An added delight is the cover art of a Florida great white heron against mangrove swamp bordered by a Seminole Indian motif.