I love tall tales! John Henry may have been a real person and various research has been done to find him, but it's all over as far as I can tell. But I did enjoy this take on the tale. Too many of our tall tales are no longer being told and I don;t know many children who know who John Henry, Paul Bunyan, or Pecos Bill are , among others... Sad. Well, maybe they will read and enjoy this book. One version of a song about Joh is included at the end, there are many other versions.

I really enjoyed this story. Not only were the illustrations great at painting a picture, so were the words. I think this story will be better suited for children who have developed good reading skills, but it would still be welcome in elementary schools, I believe. The only thing that I didn't like about this version, and apparently there are many, is that the ending feels repetitious Overall, I would still recommend this book. I think boys would get more out of it than girls too.