A Wild Cowboy - Hardcover

PreSchool-Grade 1-"I am a boy, a wild cowboy/A real live buckaroo." These words of a small child evoke the idioms of the West and offer a joyful reminder of the power of imagination. The boy packs his "cowpoke stuff," mounts his horse (a piggyback ride with Mom), and blazes a trail out West to Grandma's house, where he and his "pardner" (younger brother) spend the day. Despite the urban setting, Grandma's house becomes the wild frontier as the children bring in the cattle (catch some puppies), set up camp (pitched before the fireplace), and eat their grub (popcorn). In the evening, the tired siblings' parents take them home. The story has a natural flow, like a child's stream of consciousness, and the rhyming text reads aloud smoothly. The vibrant artwork shows a loving, racially mixed family; the affection and warmth that surrounds the brothers is evoked through small details-bedtime caresses, smiles shared between adults and children, and the family portraits placed throughout the scenes. Freeman imbues her bright-eyed drovers with enthusiasm, drawing readers into this imaginary adventure.
Mary Elam, Forman Elementary School, Plano, TX
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PreS-Gr. 1. The young, seemingly half-black, half-Asian protagonist of this rhyming picture book transforms an urban trip to grandma's house into the Wild West adventure of a "real live buckaroo." Sure, maybe the cowboy's "pardner" is his little brother and the "herd" he rounds up is a litter of puppies in Grandma's backyard, but in this chubby-cheeked cowpoke's world, the illusion is complete. The simple rhyme is sometimes clunky: "We set up camp, this cowboy's home / A fire flickers and pops / I find some grub, some cowboy food / I eat till the rumblin' stops." But the contrast between the boy's monomaniacal cowboy vision and the illustrations that portray the reality of his city setting creates some amusing surprises. Freeman's illustrations, packed with cowboy action, are vividly colored yet softly textured like chalk pictures on a blackboard. Children who love to pretend will see themselves in this imaginative boy who blazes his own trail. Karin Snelson
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