"By the second spread, with miners working in their long johns or, discreetly, "in the vanilla," listeners will be thoroughly hooked. The humor is broad and the language inventive, yet reminiscent of the times."--Kirkus Reviews   "Johnston creates an unrepentantly exaggerated version of events that is sure to entertain, offering more factual information about Strauss in an author's note. Using a bright idea of his own, Innerst (Lincoln Tells a Joke) chronicles the raucous action in acrylic paintings on a canvas of, yes, old Levi's jeans. The denim's texture provides an appropriately rugged tone to the colorful proceedings."--Publishers Weekly, starred review   "An outlandish whopper of a tall tale, this story just begs to be read aloud with an old-timey Western accent. Johnston weaves together fact and fiction, resulting in a hilarious narrative about how Strauss became the denim king... A first choice for any collection, this book is worth its weight in denim–or gold."--School Library Journal, starred review   "Johnston antes up the readaloudability with traditional tall-tale banter and a bold-faced "Dang!" every time Strauss gets a brainstorm. Innerst extends the fun by painting the sartorially challenged miners on, what else, blue jeans, craftily leaving the blue untouched for jeans, tents, chalkboards, ocean, and bay, and letting flat-felled seams do double duty as the floor of a covered wagon or the roadway of the Golden Gate Bridge."-Bulletin —