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Epossumondas
Why Epossumondas Has No Hair on His Tail
Epossumondas has a very important question: "Mama, why don't I have hair on my tail?"
And wouldn't you know it, Mama can tell him exactly why possum tails are all pink and naked and funny looking. Her story's a doozy! It goes way back to Epossumondas's great-great-grandpa, Papapossum. When hungry Papapossum and his growly ol' stomach meet up with wily Hare, cranky Bear, and a persimmon tree . . . well, it's one hair-raisin' adventure!
Renowned storyteller Coleen Salley and Caldecott Honor illustrator Janet Stevens team up again, drawing on the Uncle Remus tradition and their own wild imaginations to expose a hilarious--and important!--moment in possum history.
And wouldn't you know it, Mama can tell him exactly why possum tails are all pink and naked and funny looking. Her story's a doozy! It goes way back to Epossumondas's great-great-grandpa, Papapossum. When hungry Papapossum and his growly ol' stomach meet up with wily Hare, cranky Bear, and a persimmon tree . . . well, it's one hair-raisin' adventure!
Renowned storyteller Coleen Salley and Caldecott Honor illustrator Janet Stevens team up again, drawing on the Uncle Remus tradition and their own wild imaginations to expose a hilarious--and important!--moment in possum history.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2004
About the author
Coleen Salley
9 books9 followersCOLEEN SALLEY was a professor of children's literature for thirty years and now travels widely as a professional storyteller. A native of Louisiana, she lives in the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 2, 2017
This book is a great little folk tale explaining how opossums got their tails.
Epossumondas notices how other creatures have big, bushy tails and is curious to know why opossums have naked tails. He crawls up in his (human) mama's lap and she tells him a tale of how his great-great-grandfather's actions changed opossum tails forever.
Highly recommended.
Epossumondas notices how other creatures have big, bushy tails and is curious to know why opossums have naked tails. He crawls up in his (human) mama's lap and she tells him a tale of how his great-great-grandfather's actions changed opossum tails forever.
Highly recommended.
October 2, 2018
One day while lollygagging on the porch, swinging in the swing, and thinking about tails, Epossumondas asked his mother why his tail had no hair. His mother told him the tale about how his great-great grandpa, Papapossum, lost his fluffy powder-puff tail while persimmon-picking from Bear's persimmon tree, and to this very day no possum has a fluffy powder-puff tail.
December 4, 2017
I love this book absolutely adorable and children will love it. Very cute storyline as well as adorable illustrations. I feel like it also encourages children to learn about their heritage and how important it is to know about their heritage.
July 22, 2019
I love the attention to detail in the pix. For example, normally I prefer animal characters to dress themselves only in fur, but all the different outfits here help tell the story so I actually like them. I'm really enjoying this series so far.
July 21, 2026
No. Just no. What in the world is this?!? The lore in the illustrations of humans and animals does not work in this book. The papapossum was selfish. The rabbit was terrible. It was weird but not in a good way.
November 22, 2019
Vivid illustrations packed with character. Cute story! I will be taking this to my great nephew and niece in England.
February 2, 2013
Why Epossumondas Has No Hair on His Tail written by Coleen Salley and illustrated by Janet Stevens is a creation myth about how the possum inherited his naked tale.
In my opinion, this is not my favorite creation myth. I have read many creation myths before that tell how animals or the Earth got their attributes, but I think this book took a strange approach.
Unlike many other creation myths, this story does not have a cultural association. Additionally, the animals in the story are all dressed in clothing, which seems odd for a creation tale. The main character, who is a possum, is raised by a human mother in the story. At the start, I was not very intrigued by the story.
Once I continued through the story, I found that there were many elements of the story that were enjoyable, though! I thought the language felt authentic to the characters and was clever. There was a lot of rhyme and rhythm that went along with the dialogue in the story. One of my favorite rhyming lines was “Persimmons, ‘simmons, high up in the tree. Plenty of Stomach and plenty enough for me!”
The story also has a clever ending that explains how the possum got a long naked tale. In my opinion, the mother in the story being a human and the child be a possum was the strangest part, but maybe I am just being picky.
Overall, I think this would be an interesting story for students in K-3 because the illustrations are bright and vivid. The language is also fun to listen to. You could also use this book as a mentor text for demonstrating voice and personality in writing dialogue.
In my opinion, this is not my favorite creation myth. I have read many creation myths before that tell how animals or the Earth got their attributes, but I think this book took a strange approach.
Unlike many other creation myths, this story does not have a cultural association. Additionally, the animals in the story are all dressed in clothing, which seems odd for a creation tale. The main character, who is a possum, is raised by a human mother in the story. At the start, I was not very intrigued by the story.
Once I continued through the story, I found that there were many elements of the story that were enjoyable, though! I thought the language felt authentic to the characters and was clever. There was a lot of rhyme and rhythm that went along with the dialogue in the story. One of my favorite rhyming lines was “Persimmons, ‘simmons, high up in the tree. Plenty of Stomach and plenty enough for me!”
The story also has a clever ending that explains how the possum got a long naked tale. In my opinion, the mother in the story being a human and the child be a possum was the strangest part, but maybe I am just being picky.
Overall, I think this would be an interesting story for students in K-3 because the illustrations are bright and vivid. The language is also fun to listen to. You could also use this book as a mentor text for demonstrating voice and personality in writing dialogue.
May 13, 2012
A well-done retelling of the tale of how Possum ended up with no hair on his tail. Epossumondas asks Mama why and she tells him the story of how his great-great-great grandfather, Papapossum, was hungry for persimmons one day but couldn't find any. His friend Hare tells him that Bear has lots of persimmons because he planted persimmon trees. Well, Papapossum takes off for Bears orchard, heedless of the fact that Bear will be none-too-pleased to find that his persimmon orchard raided. Hare decides to follow because a persimmon sounds good to him, too.
Papapossum makes himself at home in a persimmon tree, singing to himself as he eats Bear's persimmons. Hare begins to get mad because Papapossum is only tossing down 1 persimmon for every 5 he eats himself. Hare finally has had enough and finds Bear and tells him what's going on. Bear begins to shake the tree to get Papapossum out but he's hanging on quite tightly. Bear shakes harder and finally Papapossum falls from the tree. He takes off running but Bear grabs his powder puff of a tail. Papapossum keeps running and Bear holds on, causing the possums tail to stretch into a long, naked tail. Bear was left with a mouth full of the fluff off of the tail.
Ever the opportunist, Papapossum makes the most of his tail. He learns to grab things with it, paint with it, hang upside down and more!
However, he did lose his fondness for persimmons!
Papapossum makes himself at home in a persimmon tree, singing to himself as he eats Bear's persimmons. Hare begins to get mad because Papapossum is only tossing down 1 persimmon for every 5 he eats himself. Hare finally has had enough and finds Bear and tells him what's going on. Bear begins to shake the tree to get Papapossum out but he's hanging on quite tightly. Bear shakes harder and finally Papapossum falls from the tree. He takes off running but Bear grabs his powder puff of a tail. Papapossum keeps running and Bear holds on, causing the possums tail to stretch into a long, naked tail. Bear was left with a mouth full of the fluff off of the tail.
Ever the opportunist, Papapossum makes the most of his tail. He learns to grab things with it, paint with it, hang upside down and more!
However, he did lose his fondness for persimmons!
October 15, 2009
While I was reading this book, especially in the beginning of the book when Epossumondas climbs up on his mother’s lap, it reminded me of the movie Fox and the Hound when fox is taken care of by that lady. I observed the fact that each animal is taken care of by a human and treated as if they are human or a child.
I enjoyed the illustrator’s use of clothing on the animals. I noticed that each animal’s clothing has pictures of what that animal would eat like Hare has carrots on his shirt and Bear has bees on his tie.
I enjoyed the illustrator’s use of clothing on the animals. I noticed that each animal’s clothing has pictures of what that animal would eat like Hare has carrots on his shirt and Bear has bees on his tie.
August 14, 2015
2.5 stars My tongue tripped over itself trying to read this. I don't even think I said Epossumondas right once, and never Papapossum.
Why is the Possum wearing a diaper? And why does the older women have a possum with a diaper in her care that calls her mama?
The pictures were okay but I am just going to go with a one word description of the book....weird. but weird doesn't mean bad, it just means weird. I live in the part of the world where possums don't live so...maybe if I saw one up close I would have a different opinion!
Why is the Possum wearing a diaper? And why does the older women have a possum with a diaper in her care that calls her mama?
The pictures were okay but I am just going to go with a one word description of the book....weird. but weird doesn't mean bad, it just means weird. I live in the part of the world where possums don't live so...maybe if I saw one up close I would have a different opinion!
July 7, 2013
Did not like as much as the 1st 2 books with Epossumondas as main character. A type of folk tale and I liked it, but didn't love the story. It would make a good read aloud, but as in the other books, the Mama and the baby possum are kind of a strange pair. And really, possums are mostly creepy and not that cute...
July 12, 2011
Epossumondas learns why he has no hair on his tail. It has something to do with Papapossum getting caught in Bear's persimmon tree. Not my favorite Epossumondas story, but fans of these character will enjoy spending more time with them.
April 15, 2012
This is a fun story about why possums don't have hair on their tails like other animals. In this story, Epossumondas realizes that his tail is special and can be used for so many different things so it's ok that his tail if different from other animals.
August 24, 2012
Really fun to read (I like to use fun voices and a Southern accent for this one). Has a brer rabbit kind of feel to it. Tempted to give this one five stars but not sure it's one I would want to buy or not (which is sort of my criteria for five stars).
September 17, 2015
This was a very cute 'tall tale' of why a possum has the long furless tail they have. His Mama tells the child about his grandpa and what happened to his small furry 'bunny' tail. My 3 year old granddaughter and I enjoyed this storybook. Illustrations are nice as well.
October 2, 2015
This book provides the reader with a funny, amusing tall tale of why possums have pink long tails that are not fluffy. I find Epossumondas to be a comical character, but his name sure is hard to repeat in his stories!
March 28, 2010
Great fun to read aloud. Nice to use in introducing some of the different types of folk tales--such as a pourquoi (why) tale.
July 24, 2011
Why Epossumondas Has No Hair on His Tail
Salley, Coleen
a silly kids story
Salley, Coleen
a silly kids story
July 26, 2013
It's silly, and I won't pussyfoot around, the language is a hoot ;-) it's a great story to read aloud. Singing about persimmons in a southern sing song voice.
October 20, 2013
This particular Epossumondas story is a Pourquois tale about how opossums came to have hairless tailes. For me, it doesn't have the same energy or cleverness of the other Epossumondas stories.
January 20, 2017
Picture Book
April 26, 2017
This was a very cute and original story. Fiction.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews