The Gas Tank of My Heart: Tales from the Vast Northern Prairie

Darleen R. Golke is a high-school teacher and librarian in Winnipeg.

Thompson, best-known for his 11 children’s books about unusual events
that happen to children like Effie, Jesse, or Zoe, turns his attention
to the folklore genre of the tall tale. The rich tradition of oral
storytelling evidenced in his children’s books appears in this
collection of 10 “tales from the Vast Northern Prairie.”

The fast-paced prose is replete with sound-effect vocabulary that begs
to be read aloud. Exaggerating the physical traits, capabilities, and
exploits of the inhabitants of New Totem in the Vast Northern Prairie,
Thompson creates images of a cold, tough land peopled by representative
larger-than-life characters like a wrestling-mad Gramma, a Tub-o-Lard, a
Fairy God Cowboy, country singer Eldrid, or the varied members of the
Trotter and Spencer clans. Throughout the tales, the Bolger Brothers
Construction Company (with the symbol of the DC–9 Caterpillar tractor)
looms, reminding the reader of the harshness and ruggedness of life on
the Vast Northern Prairie.

Readers of all ages will be especially entertained by the tale of
Lynette Trotter’s famous chilli and the account of the Fairy God
Cowboy who lets Eldrid perform “The Gas Tank of My Heart” on stage.
Thompson sets out to entertain and succeeds in providing humorous
glimpses into the daily lives of “New Totemites” in this collection
of tall tales.