American
Mike Fink, King of the River
The loudest, boastingest keelboatman on the Mississippi, who poled and rowed against the current all day and swore nobody alive could outwork him — and mostly nobody could.
This Week · Hard Work
Hard Work: what's worth working that hard for?
For littler ones: What's something you'd work really, really hard for?
This week we're wondering about hard work — and not the easy kind you finish and feel proud of. We mean the other side of it: what makes a person rise before the sun and keep at a thing long after most folks would set it down? It's a good one to turn over in the car or at the table, because what's worth all that sweat looks different to everybody.
This week's stories
American
Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox
A giant lumberjack who cleared whole forests with his big blue ox beside him, and never once met a job he thought was too big to start.
American
Annie Oakley, Little Sure Shot
A real girl, not a tall tale, who grew up poor and picked up a gun to feed her family — and then practiced, and practiced, until she could outshoot anyone who stepped up.
Talk about it
- What's something you'd work really, really hard for — and what makes that one worth it to you?
- Mike Fink and Paul Bunyan brag about how strong they are; Annie Oakley just practiced quietly. Is one way of working better than the other, or are they both fine?
- Have you ever kept at something long after you wanted to stop? What happened?
A new question every week.
Listen together in the app — short audio stories for kids 4–10, at bedtime, on the drive, in the drop-off line.
Join the family
Get the stories that built America in your inbox
New stories, the weekly Almanac, and family read-aloud picks. No spam — unsubscribe anytime.