Cowboy Sam and Those Confounded Secrets - Hardcover

Griffin, Kitty; Combs, Kathy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0618088547 ISBN 13: 9780618088546

Publisher: Clarion Books, 2001

Synopsis

Under Cowboy Sam’s hat are more secrets than fleas on Doc Peeble’s hound dog, more secrets than peppers on a chili pepper plant, and more secrets than spikes on a horny toad lizard. Just about everyone in the town of Dry Gulch wants to tell Sam a secret. But when his hat gets plum full of secrets and won’t stay put on his head, Sam is bumfuzzled and bewildered. How can he keep all those secrets under wraps—and keep the townfolk from going crazy?
Perfectly matched by Mike Wohnoutka’s comic illustrations, this funny and unexpectedly touching tale will appeal to readers young and old alike.

About this title

About the Author:

Mike Wohnoutka received his B.F.A. from the Savannah College of Art and Design and later moved to Minneapolis to negin his career in illustration. In addition to doing advertising and editorial illustration, Mike also works part time as a product/graphic designer for a gift company. His work has been published in children's magazines such as Spider. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Kathy Combs was born in Louisiana but moved to Texas when she was three years old and has been a Texan ever since. This is her first children's book.

Kitty Griffin is a freelance writer and journalist who has written articles for numerous publications in the Pittsburgh area and currently teaches screenwriting at a local college. She began writing for children in 1991 after being awarded a scholarship to a children's writers workshop at Rice University. She lives with her husband and a menagerie of animals, including a ferret, in Washington County, Pennsylvania.

From Publishers Weekly:

Caballero wannabes will get a bigger-than-Texas bang out of Griffin and Combs's slangy, twangy debut. Cowboy Sam, the best confidant in Dry Gulch, keeps more secrets under his hat "than fleas on Doc Peeble's hound dog (and that's a whole lot of fleas)." But one day his hat gets so full that it starts popping off his head. While the townspeople worry about what will become of their secrets, Sam tries holding down his hat with horseshoes and a sack of oats, then ties it down with a leather strap and even stands on his head all to no avail. "That hat exploded and blew Sam way up into the air like a wild turkey. All the secrets rocketed into outer space." In the end, there's only one place big enough: Cowboy Sam's heart. The authors embellish this tall tale with a passel of colorful descriptions ("higher than a jackrabbit jumping over a prickly pear cactus") and rhythmic phrases ("He felt more bamboozled than an armadillo without his armor. More dejected than a crawdad without his craw. More lonesome than a Texas ranger without his range"). Wohnoutka's (Counting Sheep) comical acrylic illustrations have a touch of Mark Teague, particularly in their large-as-life perspectives and round, stylized faces, but the palette here is milder, brushed with the soft colors of the Southwest. Rootin'-tootin' boot-scootin' fun, beginning to end. Ages 4-8.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0618088547
• ISBN 13: 9780618088546
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Wohnoutka Mike