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Overview
A is for Appaloosa, a trusty seed. B is for Buckaroo, who rides and top speed. C are the cattle that follow the trail...The horses are saddled, the dogs are barking, and it's time to hit the trail for one more cattle drive—a last roundup from A to Z. The spirit of the West rides again in this delightful tribute to cowboys and cowgirls—and childhoods not so long ago.Author Biography: Chris Demarest is the illustrator of more than forty books for children, and the author of half of those. Some favorites include Smart Dog by Ralph Leemis (a "Reading Rainbow" book), My Blue Boat, and the recent Casey in the Bath by Cynthia DeFelice. Among his many board books are All Aboard!, named a Best Book of 1997 by Parents magazine, and the perennial favorites Plane, Ship, Bus, and Train. Mr. Demarest lives in Meriden, New Hampshire, with his wife, Laura, and his son, Ethan.
An alphabet book featuring words that are related to cowboys and their way of life, such as appaloosa and tumbleweed.
Editorials
Children's Literature -
This labor of love pictures words related to a cowboy's life--appaloosa, buckaroo, cattle on down the alphabet to X as the cowboy's mark, yearlings, and Z, the sound at the end of the day (a cowboy sleeping under the stars is shown). Demarest's watercolors are tinged with traildust, humor is in his choice of words and what he has chosen to depict, but the stylish pictures are realistic and detailed enough to be informative, especially to younger children. Demarest grew up in the fifties and explains in a note how he wanted to speak visually for cowboys and show a bit of their lives to contemporary children. Preschoolers will like the organizational device and older children will appreciate the artist's skill in presentation. l999, DK Publishing, Ages 4 to 9, $15.95. Reviewer: Susan HeplerSchool Library Journal
PreS-Gr 2-Demarest uses the alphabet as a framework to introduce different elements in the life of a modern working cowboy on a cattle drive. Simple rhymes connect pairs of letters. In some cases, a two-page painting contains both letters: "C are the Cattle that follow the trail./D is the Dog, wagging his tail." Other times, two separate illustrations are used, as in "O is the Oilcloth, slick when it rains./P are the Prairie dogs; they live on the plains." Demarest's watercolors evoke the wide-open spaces of the range, with browns and tans gently broken up by splashes of soft colors. In many scenes, the faces of the cowboys (and at least one cowgirl) are covered or turned away, focusing readers' attention away from the people and toward the fascinating world they inhabit. There's a general progression from the beginning of the day, as the Appaloosa is led from the barn, to nightfall, when "Z is the sound at the end of the day." Some of the terms may be new to young readers, such as "quirt" and "farrier," but the illustrations clearly explain their meaning. An appealing day on the range.-Steven Engelfried, West Linn Public Library, ORKirkus Reviews
Demarest (Plane, 1995, etc.) abandons his familiar minimalist cartoons for a more elaborate style in this tribute to the cowboy mythos. Captioned by a rhymed alphabet—"A is for Appaloosa, a trusty steed. B is for Buckaroo, who rides at top speed"—the scenes depict a crew of cowhands (of both sexes) working horses, cattle, and sheep through a series of unspoiled, wide-open landscapes. Rendering chaps and stetsons, nighthawks and prairie dogs in loving detail, Demarest captures that rugged, outdoorsy life at its most romanticized, and will leave readers itching to saddle up. (Picture book. 6-7)Book Details
Published
April 1, 1999
Publisher
New York : DK Pub., 1998.
Pages
32
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780789425096