Tom Turkey and the Redcoats by Liam Fabian

My son Liam is in fifth grade, and they're learning about Tall Tales. I remember doing the same thing in fifth grade, so I had a lot of fun going over what they are and finding a few on-line to read to him. He had to write one of his own, and it's so cute, I wanted to share it. The italicized part is the teacher prompt:


Tom Turkey and the Redcoats
by Liam Fabian

Tom Turkey was a big turkey. Now, I don't mean an ordinary big turkey. No, sir! I mean an extraordinary, gigantic, big turkey. In fact, Tom Turkey was so big that if he stretched his wing, he could touch the moon. He was so smart, he learned to speak human.

One day during the Revolutionary War, the Redcoats came. They wanted to take the farm as a base. Tom Turkey said, "Stop!" The commanding officer said, "Kill the bird. Three thousand men shot him. It tickled.

Tom started to step on them.. That day, he invented tap dancing.

Ben Franklin soon heard about it and nominated him for the national bird.

The End.