Home on the Range: Cowboy Poetry
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, ORCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.