[.ca] Pecos Bill (ISBN 0688099246)

Good Illustrations kept it going:
A legend about a boy who falls out of his family wagon as they are crossing the country. He is forced to raise himself in the wide open west and learn how to protect his life. This was an ok book from my point of view. The illustrations were amazing they really kept my attention. However, the writing was nothing too spectacular. The story of Pecos Bill is one of adventure and I just didn't feel like this version of the story captured the really adventure of the legend. This book sends the message of standing up for yourself and never giving up on your dream. I think it did a good job of getting the message across and my second graders knew what the message was as soon as a closed the book.

Bland, but the Pictures are Grand:
This mild, but event-filled re-telling of the Pecos Bill story lacks the incorrigible air of tongue-in-cheek humour and bold-faced lies of the typical tall tale. However, and especially if your young`uns never heard a tall tale, the wonderful illustrations will partially make up for this. When we started to read this book, we thought those sweet-faced, round-eyed, snub-nosed cowboys looked a little familiar: this guy is the same feller who illustrated HOW MUCH IS A MILLION? which we like alot. My boys love the snake lasso, and we return many times to the fantastic "critter" that Bill wrassles into submission. But breaking-in "Widder-maker" is an let-down after that adventure, I am afraid. I recommend Adrien Stoutenburg`s AMERICAN TALL TALES for older children (9-12yrs) which has few illustrations but whose style is far better suited to the dramatic and poetic nature of the tall tale genre. My seven-year old loves to hear me read those aloud.