Saint Paul Pioneer Press, December 4, 2005

"...a rich, word-chewing voice...Salwey uses it to spin tales of life on the backwoods of the Mississippi..."

Book Description

The river rat is back! Following the success of "The Last River Rat," "Kenny Salwey’s Tales of a River Rat" presents even more of this legendary storyteller’s "rat tales" that are sure to delight, inform, and entertain.

Using six thousand acres of Upper Mississippi River valley swamps and floodplain forests as his stomping grounds, Kenny Salwey grew up learning the ways of the old-time river rats. Today, he holds the honored title of Last River Rat.

A born storyteller, Kenny inherited the ability to spin a tale from his maternal grandmother. In this latest collection of "rat tales," Kenny pursues runaway steers through the river bottoms, battles a wary old trout, and shares his sleeping quarters with a black bear. Kenny also partakes of the quieter things in life, like sauntering through the swamp, befriending a pair of squirrels, and kickin’ skunk cabbage. Through all his backwater adventures and misadventures, Kenny never stops learning from his natural world.

Balancing insight with laughter, and populated with a colorful array of swampland travelers and animals, Kenny’s tall tales bring alive the rich simplicity of a life lived along the mighty Mississippi.