Paul Bunyan: The Invention of an American Legend
by Noah Van Sciver and Marlena Myles; illus. by the authors
Intermediate    TOON    48 pp.
8/23    9781662665226    $17.99
Paper ed.  9781662665233    $11.99

Wait, Paul Bunyan wasn’t born in Maine and cradled in the Bay of Fundy before making his way to Minnesota’s north woods with Babe, his blue ox? It turns out his legend was promulgated in a Red River Lumber Company marketing campaign as a way to promote both the timber industry and, according to an introduction by Lee Francis IV (Pueblo of Laguna), “the common colonial theme of settling various lands and regions that once belonged to Indigenous peoples to make way for ‘American civilization.’” This caution paves the way for the graphic-format tale, which imagines a train making its way through Minnesota’s winter in 1914, stopped in its tracks by an accident up ahead. The passengers while away the time with stories. Red River’s advertising manager delights many with his tales of Paul Bunyan (who looks, in the scratchy ink-and-watercolor panels, a lot like the storyteller in buffalo plaid). The yarns have some detractors, who make note of the clear-cut forests and the displacement of Native peoples—and Van Sciver gives them the last word, effectively complicating the folk-hero narrative for both characters and readers. The book concludes with essays by Indigenous contributors Deondre Smiles (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe) and the book’s coauthor and illustrator Myles (Spirit Lake Dakota), and a map of the region from a Native perspective. It’s a busy, thoughtful presentation that will leave readers with much to ponder about the making of this strand of the American mythos.

From the November/December 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.