SALLY ANN THUNDER ANN WHIRLWIND CROCKETT

A perennial favorite follows Kellogg's other tall tales (Mike Fink, 1992, etc.). Sally Ann, of course, is the infant prodigy of speed and strength; she heads off alone to the frontier at the age of 8, dresses in a grizzly skin robe, and meets husband-to-be Davy Crockett when she rescues him from dire straits (his head is wedged in the crotch of a tree). She dispatches a tribe of unruly alligators by stirring up a tornado, ``invents'' bald eagles by scaring the color out of their head feathers, and bests legendary Mike Fink. Sally Ann, thoroughly likeable despite her brass and bravado, sports hair like broom straw and Kellogg's trademark round-eyed, ear-to-ear grin. Following another of the artist's conventions, she has animal familiars (two bald eagles and a skunkshe is partial to polecat perfume). The straight-faced recounting of these far-fetched adventures is paced perfectly for a read-aloud; readers will yearn for Kellogg (who includes a careful source note) to hatch still more eggs from his storytelling basket. (Picture book/folklore. 6-10)