Kids always want Joe Hayes to tellThe Gum-Chewing Rattler. And why not? It combines so many things kids love to do—chew bubble gum, tell tall tales, and drive their moms crazy—with the wild, impossible claim that a rattlesnake chewed gum and blew a bubble with it!
You see, when Joe was a boy, that’s what he told his mother—that bubble gum saved him from a rattlesnake’s fangs! Really! Don’t worry—Joe’s mother didn’t believe him either.
In 2005,Joe Hayesreceived the Talking Leaves Award from the National Storytelling Network for his contributions to the literature of storytelling.
Joe Hayes is one of America's premier storytellers. He grew up in a small town in southern Arizona where he learned Spanish from his classmates. As he got older, Joe began gathering old stories from the Southwest. Joe has earned a distinctive role as a bilingual storyteller. Antonio Castro L. was born in Zacatecas, Mexico and has lived in the Juarez-El Paso area for most of his life. He has illustrated dozens of childrens' books including Pájaro Verde and Treasure on Gold Street.
Do rattlesnakes chew bubble gum? Of course rattlesnakes chew bubble gum. Joe Hayes says they blow bubbles too!
Hayes himself appears at the beginning and end, recalling to a small group of listeners how, as a lad, he changed his mother’s irritated tune about keeping bubblegum in his shirt pockets.…Castro exaggerates the expressions on his human characters and gives the rattler a fiercely intense air of menace for this brief and thoroughly believable (right?) tale. —Kirkus Reviews
The large, two-page illustrations depict the exaggerations of this tall tale perfectly with varying perspectives on the child's encounter with the creature, bright shades of gold and turquoise, and an emphasis on pink (of course). Endpapers repeat the bold pink with splashes of alC¤
![The Gum-Chewing Rattler [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/8/5/8/2_466422.jpg)