I Wanna Be a Cowgirl

September 1, 2017
"Way out west, the warm winds blow." A snub-nosed, tousle-haired little white girl narrates life as a cowgirl in poetic, measured rhyme, while appealing paintings rendered in watercolor, gouache, colored pencil, and Photoshop show a day of imaginative play. Simple, catchy text with a repeating line combines with a bright palette full of shiny red to follow the active, enthusiastic youngster and her trusty pup and kitten as she sets out with cowboy boots (rain boots), lasso (jump rope), and horse (hobby horse). Her day includes a visit to the chicken coop (doghouse), chores such as milking the cow (hanging the laundry) and shearing the sheep (brushing the dog), a swim in the creek (inflatable pool), some grub (sandwiches), and sleeping under the stars (they are printed on her blanket). "Home on the range, I'll close my eyes. / I'll snuggle up until sunrise. / I'll sleep beneath the starry skies. / And dream... // that I'm a cowgirl!" While it's not a novel concept--tomboys, especially white ones, are represented in children's books aplenty--the charming and energetic story is easy to follow, and the give-and-take between imagination and real life is well-executed. This well may lead young readers to some pretending of their own. (Picture book. 2-5)

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September 18, 2017
A girl with pink skin, tousled hair, and eager black eyes imagines life as a cowgirl “way out west,” and it’s pretty sweet. She saddles up her stick pony and heads to the backyard to milk the cows (two rubber gloves on a clothesline stand in for udders) and “take a bath/ right in the creek!” (a backyard wading pool), before moseying home for a well-earned night’s sleep. DiTerlizzi’s rhyming text is simple and direct, with the requisite down home lilt (“I’ll check in on my chicken coops./ I’ll make my rope do loop-de-loops—/ a lasso spinnin’, makin’ hoops”). In her first picture book, Vukovic (the Jasmine Toguchi series) depicts her stylish heroine in a wide range of framings—she comes across as wholly independent and powered by boundless, sunny energy. But what gives the pages the strongest impact—and a vibe of vintage commercial art—is the combination of a breezy sketchlike style and a limited palette: red for anything associated with cowgirl fantasy, and grassy green for just about everything else. Ages 4–8. Author’s agency: Gotham Group. Illustrator’s agency: Shannon Associates.

November 1, 2017

PreS-Gr 2-A young girl dreams of being a cowgirl and uses her imagination to turn her ordinary backyard into a Western playground. Alone in her room the protagonist, clad in jeans and a pink hat and cowboy boots, draws and dreams of life as a cowgirl. When she and her trusty pup gallop down the stairs and set out to roam their backyard, her extraordinary imagination transforms mundane props into Western ranch excursions. She lassos chickens with her lariat (jump rope), milks cows (two rubber gloves), and shears sheep (brushes her dog). And when her day is done she snuggles up beneath the starry skies and dreams that she's a cowgirl! The simple rhyming text and repeated refrain make this an enjoyable storytime choice. The full-bleed watercolor illustrations incorporate bright pinks, rich greens, and dusty browns to re-create a magical Western desert atmosphere in the backyard. Several low-angled shots give a wild and magical feel to the simplicity of the backyard and showcase the cowgirl's marvelous homemade pom-pom spurs. VERDICT A solid choice for medium to larger collections or any library where cowboys and cowgirls are popular.-Laken Hottle, Providence Community Library

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