Synopsis
Q: What can happen when a young boy follows the winds of his own curiosity?
A: He might just discover a land full of beauty, adventure, and new friends!
Evoking the thrill of discovery and exploration of new terrain, Brian Ajhar's fresh new interpretation of the classic campfire song will allow young readers to see the range in a whole new way--through a young boy's imagination.
Ajhar's affectionate characterization and vibrant palette are destined to make this a favorite for every aspiring cowboy and cowgirl . . . and the inclusion of the musical notation at the end might just inspire parents to take out the ole guitar and start strummin'.
Reviews
PreSchool-Grade 3–In this picture-book version of the song, a toddler imagines the clouds forming into cattle as he rides his rocking horse into the sunset from a city apartment terrace. Just before bedtime, he sits on his bedroom floor in the middle of his self-constructed Western town, complete with horse and wagon, cowboys on horseback, Indians and tents, and cattle roaming free, for one more round of play. Once in bed, he sees stars outside his window in the outline of a cowboy hat and zap!–across the sky he's racing on his rocking horse in the middle of a herd of cattle, trying to catch the now-materialized hat. His chase propels him across the range and through the remaining three verses of the song. Sheet music and the complete lyrics are provided at the end. The colorful acrylic-and-pencil illustrations are humorously appropriate for this fantasy life on the range, but the pajamas with a button-down back flap that the little boy wears look dated. It's unlikely that toddlers will relate to the song, and older children are likely to be turned off by the young protagonist.–Wanda Meyers-Hines, Ridgecrest Elementary School, Huntsville, AL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PreS-Gr. 1. In this illustrated tribute to the campfire favorite "Home on the Range," a pajama-clad boy gazes out of his New York apartment window as the song's opening lines hint of Wild West adventures to come. Clouds materialize into longhorns as the droopy-drawered buckaroo daydreams of nondiscouraging words. The boy then plays with his cowboy-and-Indian toys until nighttime, when he gazes at a cowboy hat constellation and presto! He's catapulted into the night sky on the back of his rocking-horse steed. Once in the home of the free (it is daylight there), the wide-eyed boy chases a flying cowboy hat, startles livestock, hears the curlew scream (haven't heard that verse, eh?), and returns to bed before sunrise--but not without the hat. Ajhar's wispy, moody, yet comical acrylic-and-pencil paintings are soft as a dreamscape and bring new life to this classic song of longing. Somewhat murky stories of the song's nineteenth-century origins are included, followed by four stanzas of one particular version and the musical score for inspired crooners. Karin Snelson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
