ELA-FigLang-Hyper-LNF

Sound Devices and Figurative Language - Hyperbole - Print - Literary Nonfiction

 * 3-5**
 * //It Figures! Fun Figures of Speech//, Marvin Terban. 0-395-61584-4. Introduces and explains hyperbole with guidelines for their use and illustrative examples.


 * //Calamity Jane,// tale retold by Larry Dane Brimner. 0-7565-0600-X . This biography presents a good opportunity to compare and contrast fact and fiction, with an abundance of true information about the real Calamity Jane (Martha Jane Cannary Burke) but also includes fiction with hyperbole, as she is describe as "the most courageous soldier to ever ride a horse into battle" and "she could outride, outshoot and outboast and soldier in the army."


 * //Johnny Appleseed: a Tall Tale//, by Steven Kellogg. 0-688-06417-5. This American Tall Tale is the closest to true fact information about a real man (named John Chapman), but still provides examples of hyperbole - spreading seeds and growing trees in abundance, having a pet wolf and playing with a bear family. Also a good ELA/Social Studies connection portraying early American History and bringing the frontier days to life.


 * //John Henry//, by Julius Lester. 0-8037-1606-0. This version of an American Tall Tale is a Caldecott Honor book and is retold with many examples of hyperbole - " his smashing the great stone so fast that he creates a natty rainbow around his shoulders," and "As a child he helps his father by adding ``a wing onto the house with an indoor swimming pool and one of them jacutzis''-and that's just before lunch." There are also many additional examples of other types of figurative language - "This was no ordinary boulder. It was as hard as anger . . . a mountain as big as hurt feelings."


 * //Paul Bunyan, a Tall Tale//, by Steven Kellogg. 0-688-05800-0. This American Tall Tale describes a lumberjack who is bigger than life and taller than trees. Includes many examples of hyperbole beginning as a child, "who can lift a cow over his head" and continue as he grows into the "biggest lumberjack in the world."