Kids always want Joe Hayes to tell The Gum-Chewing Rattler. And why not? It combines so many things kids love to do—chew bubble gum, tell tall tales, and drive their moms crazy—with the wild, impossible claim that a rattlesnake chewed gum and blew a bubble with it!

You see, when Joe was a boy, that’s what he told his mother—that bubble gum saved him from a rattlesnake’s fangs! Really! Don’t worry—Joe’s mother didn’t believe him either.

In 2005, Joe Hayes received the Talking Leaves Award from the National Storytelling Network for his contributions to the literature of storytelling.