Math Concept: Data analysis (using graphs)
Slue-Foot Sue
No one has properly traced back
Slue-Foot Sue’s beginnings. So her
story starts when Pecos Bill spotted
her on the back of a catfish.
“Giddy-up!” Slue-Foot Sue
shouted, kicking her spurs into the
sides of that spunky catfish. She wore a leather
skirt with fringe and a big old belt. She had a lasso on
her belt, buckles on her boots, and a holler that could
be heard five hundred miles away, or at least four hundred.
That catfish jumped out of the river and dove back
down deep, with Slue-Foot Sue grinning like a cat. Up and
down they went, as they flew down the rapids of the Rio
Grande River.
Well, Pecos Bill had never seen anything like it.
He’d been watching from behind a rock, sitting on his
stallion named Lightning. But as Slue-Foot Sue passed,
he hollered out, “Wait up there.”
“What fer?” said Sue, not even looking his way.
“I wanna meet you,” said Pecos Bill, feeling more
shy than he’d ever felt. He could tell she was strong as
a moose, wild as a wolf, and brave as a bear.
Slue-Foot Sue turned her head and spit out a
spray of water that just missed Pecos Bill’s head. “Well,
hello there!” she called out. Being one always up for an
adventure, Slue-Foot Sue reined in the catfish and tied its
harness to a tree.
“I’m Slue-Foot Sue,” she said, shaking Pecos Bill’s
hand so hard his teeth rattled.
“I think I wanna marry you,” said Pecos Bill. “I was
raised by coyotes, I work with reformed outlaws, and I’m
the greatest cowboy in the world.”
(Continued)
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Tall Tale Math © 2013 by Betsy Franco, Scholastic Teaching Resources
Slue-Foot Sue
Math Concept: Data analysis (using graphs)
“Well, I’ve never heard of you, but I just might
marry you, Pecos Bill,” Slue-Foot Sue said with a
big grin. “But . . . you gotta buy me a dress with
a big fancy bustle. And you surely gotta let me ride
your lightning-white horse.”
Pecos Bill agreed on the spot. He rode to town
and bought the most beautiful gown he could find
with a big, fancy bustle at the back.
On their wedding day, Slue-Foot Sue and Pecos
Bill stood side by side, with spurs on their boots
and cowboy hats on their heads. Slue-Foot Sue was
powerful proud of her bustle, but she got mighty
restless by the time the ceremony was over.
“Time to ride that horse,” she said.
“Okay. Just know that she’s a buckaroo. No one’s
ridden her but me,” cautioned Pecos Bill.
With that, Slue-Foot Sue jumped on the horse.
But she hadn’t counted on one thing. That big fancy
bustle had a lot of bounce in it. When her bottom hit
the saddle, she bounced up, up, up. She bounced so
high, it looked like she might hit the moon.
Her bounces got higher and higher, then lower
and lower. Pecos Bill thought he’d soon get his bride
back, until she hit a rock and went way, way up into
the sky.
“Do something down there,” she hollered,
scaring all the animals for miles around.
Pecos Bill watched Slue-Foot Sue bounce a
couple more times before he took out his lasso. He
set to work lassoing storm clouds from all across the
state to make a ceiling in the sky. Then he lowered
those clouds until he could reach his bride.
Once her feet hit the ground, Slue-Foot Sue
immediately changed back into her regular clothes.
Then she hopped back on Lightning, and rode
circles around Pecos Bill from that day on.
Tall Tale Math © 2013 by Betsy Franco, Scholastic Teaching Resources
57
Name ________________________________________ Date _____________________________
Slue-Foot Sue
Slue-Foot Sue picked the giant fish that jumped the highest to
ride down the Mississippi River. This bar graph shows how high
different fish could jump. Use the graph to answer questions 1–5.
Height of Fish Jumps
10
9
8
7
6
Feet
5
4
3
2
1
ye
le
al
W
on
h
ge
fis
od
ur
on
lm
at
C
C
St
Sa
Giant Fish
1. What is the minimum height that a fish could jump? ____________
The maximum? ____________
2. Which fish jumped the lowest height? _______________________
How high did that fish jump? _______________________
3. How much higher did the salmon jump than the cod? _______________________
4. Fill in the blanks:
The _______________________ jumped 2 feet higher than the _______________________.
5. Slue-Foot Sue decided to ride the fish that jumped the highest.
Which fish did she ride? _______________________
How much higher did that fish jump than the fish with the lowest jump height?
_______________________
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Tall Tale Math © 2013 by Betsy Franco, Scholastic Teaching Resources
Name ________________________________________ Date _____________________________
Slue-Foot Sue
(Continued)
Slue-Foot Sue experienced some mighty bounces in her
wedding dress. This line graph shows the heights of her
bounces. Use the graph to answer questions 6–11.
Slue-Foot Sue’s Bounces
60
50
Miles
40
30
20
10
1
2
3
4
5
6
Bounces
6. How high was Slue-Foot Sue’s 2nd bounce? _______________
7. Which of her bounces went the highest? ________________
How high were those bounces? _______________
8. Which of her bounces were the lowest? ________________
How high were those bounces? ________________
9. Look for the pattern of Slue-Foot Sue’s bounces on the graph.
Describe the pattern.
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________.
10. Following the pattern, how high would her 7th bounce be? _______________
11. If Slue-Foot Sue kept bouncing, which would be her next high-bounce?
___________________________________________
Tall Tale Math © 2013 by Betsy Franco, Scholastic Teaching Resources
59
Name ________________________________________ Date _____________________________
Slue-Foot Sue
(Continued)
Slue-Foot Sue spent her days doing the things she loved.
This circle graph shows how much time she spent doing each
activity in a day. Use the graph to answer questions 12–14.
How Slue-Foot Sue
Spent Her Day
arm
wrestling
breaking
horses
riding
catfish
12. About what fraction of her day did Slue-Foot Sue spend breaking horses?
___________________________________________
13. What did Slue-Foot Sue spend the least amount of her day doing?
___________________________________________
About what fraction of her day was used doing that activity?
___________________________________________
14. What did Slue-Foot Sue spend a little more than 1/4 of her day doing?
___________________________________________
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Tall Tale Math © 2013 by Betsy Franco, Scholastic Teaching Resources
Answers
Slue-Foot Sue
page 58
1. 0 feet; 10 feet
2. walleye; 3 feet
3. 5 feet
4. salmon, sturgeon
5. catfish; 7 feet
page 59
6. 40 miles high
7. bounces 3 and 6; 60 miles high
8. bounces 1 and 4; 20 miles high
9. Answers may vary, but should describe an
alternating pattern, such as low, higher, highest,
low, higher, highest; the heights of 20, 40, and
60 miles repeats; or bounces 1 and 4 are the
lowest, bounces 2 and 5 are higher, and bounces
3 and 6 are the highest.
10. 20 miles high
11. the 9th bounce
page 60
12. 1/2 of her day
13. arm wrestling; 1/4 of her day
14. riding catfish
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Tall Tale Math © 2013 by Betsy Franco, Scholastic Teaching Resources