Kissimmee Pete, Cracker Cow Hunter
Grade 2-4–This tall tale is based on the lives of Florida's frontier cowboys, called cracker cow hunters because they herded and corralled their livestock by cracking long whips to keep the animals in line. Kissimmee Pete is one of these men, and the story details his many adventures and exploits. He is helped by a dog named Mud; a speedy horse called Blaze; and String Bean, his pet green cow. Each adventure adds another descriptive adjective to Pete's name, so that at the end of the book he is: Kissimmee Pete, the legendary, brainy, velvet-voiced, gator-wrestlin', stinky, hard-ridin', tender-hearted, courageous, cranky, clever, cracker cow hunter, who can still be seen riding at dawn on the Okeechobee prairies. The clever text is full of humor and flows well, and is set off by eye-catching illustrations that give the pages energy and imagination–just right for a tall tale.–Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.