Widdermaker (Carolrhoda Picture Books)
Kindergarten-Grade 4-In an outlandish combination of pourquoi and tall tale, Schnetzler takes readers on a rip-roaring, hilarious adventure. "Varmints is varmints. And cowpokes is cowpokes. And varmints don't beat cowpokes." With this declaration, Cowpoke Pete sets off to capture the Widdermaker, the meanest, most ornery longhorn in the West. Climbing onto the back of his trusty steed, Desert Rose, the fastest pony west of the Mississippi, the crazed cowpoke follows the trail of destruction left by the bad-tempered bovine. As Cowpoke Pete and Desert Rose try to rope and tame the Widdermaker, they create the Painted Desert and Monument Valley. Sealock's paintings are wild, wacky, and bold, featuring the burly, broad-nosed bull with blood-shot eyes and fuming nostrils. Put on a Texas drawl and couple the tale with Susan Lowell's The Bootmaker and the Elves (Orchard, 1997) for a crowd-pleasing, Western-style storytime.Be Astengo, Alachua County Library, Gainesville, FLCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.