Real Cowboys

Cowboys are quiet in the mornings, always thinking of others. They sing to their cattle to calm them when coyotes are near. They are patient as they ride for days or weeks to drive their cattle in. Cowboys ask for help when they need it. Real cowboys cry when cattle and dogs are lost in storms or stampedes. They can be strong and tough and homesick at the same time. They can even be girls!

Written with a slow, even gait, the book shows a cowboy’s true life, not the stereotypes found in movies. Muted-colored illustrations, done with hand-stenciled shapes and textures layered on a computer, show instead of the monotony of long cattle drives, the excitement, the variation and the challenges of a cowboy’s life. The prose and illustrations “take you on a cattle drive across the prairies.”