This hilar­i­ous con­tem­po­rary tall tale describes how Levi Strauss went to Cal­i­for­nia dur­ing the Gold Rush and became the king of jeans. Tony John­ston cap­tures per­fect­ly the hyper­bol­ic sto­ry­telling of the genre, com­plete with ref­er­ences to min­ers work­ing in long johns, the Great Pants Rush, and Strauss build­ing the city of San Fran­cis­co. A his­tor­i­cal note in the back of the book lets read­ers sep­a­rate the facts about Strauss’ life from Johnston’s fic­tion. Sta­cy Innerst paint­ed the cre­ative illus­tra­tions on jeans using the seams, pock­ets and oth­er struc­tur­al ele­ments as details in the pic­tures. They are an ide­al accom­pa­ni­ment to Johnston’s text. Note that there is no men­tion of Levi Strauss being Jew­ish. High­ly rec­om­mend­ed for ages 5 – 10.