Home on the Range: Cowboy Poetry

Nineteen poems celebrate cowboy life.

Grade 3 Up. Nineteen poems celebrating cowboy (and cowgirl) life ride across the pages of this handsome volume. From coyotes to bear encounters, roping cattle and riding horses, to haying and the smell of rain, this is cowpoke poetry in all its glory. The down-home verses are richly vernacular and, through thoughtful praise and clever rhyme, bring to light the vitality and timelessness that life on the range embraces. Not originally written for children, the selections shine in partnership with Fuchs's expert drawings. Full of glowing Western light and horses, the pencil and oils on colored paper veritably plunge readers into a cowpunch's boots for a moment or two. They show girls and an African American participating in this lifestyle once depicted by white males only. The closing poem is a memorial to the receding profession and all that has passed, and the final illustration shows a Native American pensively looking off into the distance. An excellent way to add poetry to history curriculum, these offerings could open discussion. Where cowboys are popular, this title should find a place on the shelf.?Angela J. Reynolds, West Slope Community Library, Portland, OR
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A timeless portrait of cowboy (and cowgirl) life emerges from 20 illustrated poems. Some of the selections are humorous, some respectful, some impassioned, but most have the echo of truth that comes from those who know their subject. The poems deal with friendship, hardship, weather, hay, and hungry cows; all speak to a love and respect for the land, animals, open skies, and freedom. Janeczko (Wherever Home Begins, 1995, etc.) includes examples of the sentimental doggerel that has become, unfortunately, the hallmark of the genre, but children will find them funny and involving--a way into the more serious pieces. Following a reading of ``The Trail of an Old Timer's Memory,'' there won't be a dry eye in the house. On colored backgrounds, Fuchs has created from oil and pencil striking scenes in which the subjects are on the verge of vanishing, specter-like, into the haze. A good collection, with an unfeigned, cumulative effect that leaves readers with a real sense of a disappearing way of life. (Picture book/poetry. 8-10) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.