Describes the lives of the beaver trappers who were the first explorers of the American West beyond the Rocky mountains, and some of the tall tales that made them legends.

Shortly before his sixteenth birthday, Kit Carson leaves his home in Missouri, heads out for Santa Fe, and begins a series of adventures as a legendary mountain man.

Relates the exploits of several famous outlaws in frontier America such as Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, and Doc Holliday.

When Codie's favorite aunt is having a baby, Codie has lots of worries: Will the baby and her aunt be all right, will Codie's baby quilt be done on time, and will her aunt still have time for her?

Thinking his work in the fields is harder than his wife's work in the house, Mr. McTeague trades places with her for one day.

Unwilling to share his feast, Ananse the spider tricks Akye the turtle so that he can eat all the food himself, but Akye finds a way to get even.

An assortment of monsters demonstrates good and bad manners.

Swedish-born engineer and inventor Captain John Ericsson was ahead of his time. His sleek fire engine could shoot gallons of water as high as ninety feet. His steam locomotive could fly down the tracks at the unheard of speed of thirty miles per hour. But was such a quantity of water necessary? Was such speed advisable? Neither the starched lords of the British Admiralty nor the snooty London Fire Brigade were ready for his strange and wonderful inventions....

A boat captain and his men battle Bill McGrew and his pirate crew on the Erie Canal in a rhyming tale inspired by a folksong.

Family members compose verses to the folk song "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" to describe an expected visitor.