The Adventures of High John the Conqueror - Traditional Literature Chapter book

Sanfield, S. (1989). The Adventures of High John the Conqueror.  Orchard Books: New York.

This book is a series of short storied that are all folk tales about a slave named High John.  As with all folk tales, these have been passed down through generations and through slave populations about High John who was always a little more clever than his masters.  His cleverness gets him free as he often makes bets with his master and outsmarts him.  The tales continue into ways that High John was able to outsmart people as a free man as well.  A particularly famous tale that is included in this collection is "Tops and Bottoms".  It is how High John made a deal with a farm owner to share their crops and John always got the best of him.  There are also history lessons about slavery and slave times included where it helps one to enhance the story or make meaning of the language or events.

Traditional literature Chapter book - Folk tale.   Grades 2-4.  All artwork contained is pencil drawings.

There are quite a bit of folk tales from slave times because slaves were not taught to read or write so they often told one another stories.  The stories about outwitting a slave owner or ways in which slaves got ahead were always interesting and passed down to many.  What makes these stories of slavery great is that they weren't just about a slave and his owner but they were also about slaves relationships with one another.

This book is great for guided reading in that the stories are short (only a few pages) and all groups can read one or two.  They can also read the historical information that goes along with the story.  It helps to build their schema.  There can be extensions done with these stories and students would love to act them out.