Cowboy Ed - Hardcover

Grossman, Bill

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060215712 ISBN 13: 9780060215712

Publisher: Harpercollins

Synopsis

When it starts raining buffalo and bears, some prairie folk who don't know how to handle this new problem turn to young Cowboy Ed for help

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Once again Grossman ( Tommy at the Grocery Store ; Donna O'Neeshuck Was Chased by Some Cows ) serves up a rip-roaring escapade told in rollicking verse. Young Cowboy Ed takes a midnight journey to a fantasy frontier where "the horses / Rode the cowboys-- / The plows were pulled / By plowboys, and the people / Put their underwear on last." Because, of course, "That's the way we've always done it in the past." When the skies rain down not just cats and dogs but a zoo's worth of animals, the tradition-bound prairie dwellers are stumped. Enter Cowboy Ed, maverick, hero and animal-tickler extraordinaire, who shoos away the beasts with nothing more than a feather. Wint's ultra-modern, topsy-turvy illustrations keep apace with the hurtling text, supplying the requisite chaos by featuring countless creatures dressed in bright, circusy garb (and no underwear in sight!). Intense yellows, oranges and pinks with an overwash of gray are set against a starry black sky, reinforcing the nocturnal quality of the adventure. Amid the rampant silliness is a pithy plug for independent thinking: "The folks had learned from Ed / That it's best to use your head / And to never mind what happened in the past." Ages 3-7.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

The author of the ebullient Tommy at the Grocery Store (1989) brings his clever versifying to another nonsense saga. In little Ed's dreamlike adventure, everything goes by opposites: horses ride cowboys, children teach teachers, etc., ``...because/That's the way/We've always done it/In the past.'' When it rains animals until they crowd every space, the past offers no solutions; so hero Ed, proclaiming ``I always use my head./And I seldom give a hoot/About the past,'' suggests ``when in a pickle,/It is often wise to tickle...''--a lame conclusion to a narrative that's sometimes deliciously silly, but whose bantering tone sits uneasily with its dark subtext. The worst mismatch, however, is with the illustrations. Wint debuts with elegant faux-na‹f figures on a black ground--handsomely decorative and with real ``stage presence''--but simply not very funny. There's plenty of talent here, but it's oddly misdirected. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harpercollins
• ISBN 10: 0060215712
• ISBN 13: 9780060215712
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Wint Florence