Sweet Potatoes

Intended Audience: K-5

Decker, Caitlin [username]. (2017, December 1^st). Sammy Buckshaw’s sweet potatoes. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDfYWbRXJUs

I have chosen to tell a story called Sweet Potatoes, about a man called Sammy Buckshaw. Sammy is an older man living on the outskirts of town who learns that a road is going to be built and is unfortunately going to destroy his garden, which is his pride and joy. This story is in the oral folklore tradition of Jack Tales, as in Jack and the Beanstalk. The particular tale I am telling does not feature the character, Jack, but the style of the story is from the same tradition.

Jack Tales are an offshoot of the European “wonder tales,” which were brought to Colonial America with settlers who made their homes in the Appalachian South. The beauty of the Jack Tales is that they have a personality that is unique to the region of the telling, and nuances between individual storytellers

I embellished my telling a little bit, most noticeably by adding to the end of it. The original written tale ends in a way that I don’t think my audience, presumably elementary aged children, would understand. I did not alter the ending, but I added an explanation of sorts, that helps the listeners connect the dots and make sense of the story.

NA. (nd). The narrative style of a Jack Tale Teller. http://www.ibiblio.org/bawdy/bios/bios.html

NA. (nd). Sweet Potatoes. Retrieved from http://www.ibiblio.org/bawdy/folklore/sweet.html