Leroy Potts Meets the McCrooks (First Choice Chapter Book)

Yahoo! Leroy Potts is planning to ask Miss Hattie Mae to marry him. But along the way Leroy is struck by a double bolt of lightning. Shucks--Leroy's forgotten his own name. That's when he meets the McCrook brothers, Skete and Barney. Those outlaws think Leroy is the perfect man to do their dirty work. But they're in for a surprise. Yippee-I-O-ki-yay!

In this Yearling First Choice Chapter Book, Sathre (Three Kind Mice, p. 228, etc.) and Barnes-Murphy (who illustrated Frances Barnes-Murphy's Kings and Queens of Britain, 1996) gather their considerable wit and trot out a tale that will flapdoodle and delight beginning readers. It's a ``yippee-i-o kind of day'' when Leroy Potts, after saving up enough to buy a farm, sets off to ask Miss Hattie Mae Williston--a right good cook, and that's important to Leroy--to marry him. But a freak summer storm interrupts him, sending a double bolt of lightning that, ``quick as biscuits burn,'' takes his memory. And that's the moment that the McCrook brothers, Skete and Barney, show up to invite the confused Leroy to play a game of Rob and Run and point him at a restaurant. Leroy robs the valuables there--knives and forks and ``what's left of that blueberry pie.'' The McCrooks give Leroy another chance to play the game right, directing him this time to a passing train. But Leroy's ``look tough, sound gruff'' approach, plus his growling stomach, don't work any better this time. The McCrooks clarify their objective and send Leroy to the bank, where a knock to the head finally restores Leroy's memory, results in the catching of the McCrooks, and brings Miss Hattie Mae to a breathless ``Oh, yes, Leroy!'' A tall-tale contrivance in a wholly controlled, believable entertainment. (Fiction. 5-8) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.