Small but Mighty: Thunder Rose as Tall Tale

Thunder Rose, illustrated by Kadir Nelson and written by Jerdine Nolen, is the story of a little girl that came out of the womb extraordinary. Gifted with strength, speech and wisdom beyond her years, a way with cattle, and control of thunder, Thunder Rose’s life is a marvel recounted with awe by the speaker. Nelson’s illustrations lift up Thunder Rose not simply as an extraordinary child, but follow certain codes and representations that identify Thunder Rose as a legitimate folk hero in the tradition of American tall tales.

Tall tales are the domain of “extravagantly exaggerated folk heroes” (Brittanica). Often this exaggeration extends into their physical descriptions and representations. Thunder Rose is a little girl without the stature of Paul Bunyan or the physical prowess of John Henry, but Nelson does something incredibly clever in the illustrations he presents of the character: he places the reader’s perspective far, far below her, ensuring that she is consistently viewed as an icon, something larger than life. John Stephens makes a particular note of this strategy as it pertains to the creation of new tall tales and American nationalistic superhoeroes, stating “low angle perspectives emphasize…heroic stature” (Stephens 139). While the examples of Nelson employing this strategy exist on nearly every single page of the book, one that feels of particular note is a single page illustration of Rose squatting close to the ground, her chin high and a piece of grass hanging carelessly from her mouth. Even in this diminished posture and with her trusty steer Tater looming behind her, Rose feels absolutely huge. She also, in this moment, exemplifies a certain American ideal: that of the fearless, proud, working man (or woman) that achieves heroic status not in spite of their background or status, but because of it and the virtues it instills in them. The choice to make this iconic cowgirl illustration the accompanying image to a story of Thunder Rose vanquishing a band of outlaws only serves to further emphasize her place in the canon of these larger than life heroes.

Works Cited

op de Beeck, Nathalie. “Picture-Text Relationships in Picturebooks.” The Routledge Companion to Picturebooks. Ed. Bettina Kummerling-Meibaurer. Routledge 2018.

Nelson, Kadir. Thunder Rose. Written by Jardine Nolen. HMH Books 2003.

Stephens, John. “Picturebooks and Ideology.” The Routledge Companion to Picturebooks. Ed. Bettina Kummerling-Meibaurer. Routledge 2018.

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