The Gum-Chewing Rattler

Book excerpt: Respected raconteur Joe Hayes is built for tall tales—he’s got the world’s longest legs! And Joe—who travels all over the United States telling stories to kids—says that The Gum-Chewing Rattler is the perfect tall tale for kids because it combines so many familiar experiences—chewing lots of bubblegum, getting in trouble in school, driving your mom crazy—with the wild, impossible claim that a certain rattlesnake chewed gum and blew a bubble with it. Couple that with kids’ natural fascination with poisonous snakes, and The Gum-Chewing Rattler turns out to be one of Joe’s most requested stories. Joe’s been telling this wild story for years, since before 1980, when he took those long legs of his out on the road. But now, that old gum-chewer is here for the first time in a picture book with full-color illustrations by Antonio Castro L. Here’s how Joe’s story goes: When Joe was a boy, he chewed lots of bubblegum, his mom got so mad because the gum in his shirt pocket made a terrible mess in the wash! But this wad of bubblegum just happened to save Joe from a rattlesnake’s fangs! Really!! Don’t worry—his mother didn’t believe the story either.