Badhat: A Wild Western Legend [Paperback]

Harry McLaughlin (Author)

Book Description

A lone prairie dog named Badhat drifts through the lonely canyons and red rock mesas of the wild and woolly west. He has set out in search of his purpose in life. At every turn, trouble has a peculiar way of showing up unannounced. Ride along on this wild western adventure novel for kids and young adults, and find out why the life Badhat eventually stumbles across is a whole lot more than he ever bargained for!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Harry McLaughlin was born and raised in Virginia. Cooking up offbeat adventure stories has been his lifelong passion. He's happiest when he's busy doing something creative such as writing books, drawing comics, working on television shows, or making video games. Harry lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife Leila.

Product Details

• Paperback: 134 pages
• Publisher: Zaptoons (April 27, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615368549
• ISBN-13: 978-0615368542
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,084,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Harry McLaughlin was born and raised in Virginia. Cooking up offbeat adventure stories has been his lifelong passion. He's happiest when he's busy doing something creative such as writing books, drawing comics, working on television shows, or making video games. Harry lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife Leila.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun Western for Kids, July 26, 2010

By 

reviewer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Badhat: A Wild Western Legend (Paperback)

After crows destroy his crop, Badhat, a prairie dog, drifts around the wild west. He stumbles upon a small town called Dagnabit. Badhat scares off a gang of gophers, and he becomes a local hero. The town offers him a job as sheriff, and he takes it.

A young prairie dog calling himself The Kid, starts following Badhat around. The Kid wants to be a deputy.

Just when Badhat starts to adjust to the sheriff life, Rumpus and his gang of gophers come up with a plan to run him out of Dagnabit.

This is a hilarious spoof of the western genre. The author has done a wonderful job creating fun characters that kids will enjoy reading. Badhat: A Wild Western Legend is a fast read, just under 130 pages. It reminded me of some of the cartoons I watched as a kid. Reading Badhat was a pure delight.

I would like to thank the author for sending me this copy to review.

3.0 out of 5 stars Badhat by Harry McLaughlin, July 18, 2010

By 

onyx95 "-Debbie" (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Badhat: A Wild Western Legend (Paperback)

Everything happens for a reason, and for Badhat the lone prairie dog and his trusted mule Burrito, a lot of things had to happen before he would ever figure out why. Tired of fighting the crows for his own garden crop, they set out to find the place that they belonged. Asking only for a sign they traveled on and on. Within the town of Dagnabit he stumbled upon a pack of criminals, the Gopher Broke gang spent there time stealing t'maters and making life for the townspeople miserable. Unintentionally and single-handedly running the whole gang out of town left the townspeople happy to declare him the new Sheriff, but Badhat was on his quest and didn't really want the job. Every time he would try to explain himself though, he couldn't get the words out over their praise and gratitude. Moving on was what he thought he was suppose to do, but somewhere along the way he got caught up in the towns trouble. If he ever wanted to find his place in life, he had to find out what the right thing to do would be, for himself and for the town.

Intended for youth readers, this book has a good story, a few minor hits at a moral overtone and a lot of fun. The sling-shot slinger and his mule are joined in most of the adventures with The Kid and his burro which makes for the total western hero / sidekick package. While the story is fun and fast paced, the rhythm is slowed a little by the translation of that good ole slang. Dropping g's and words like "t'mater", "y'all ", "kept m' word", or "gid'yap", while it's appealing to the story setting and a fun addition if your reading aloud, slows down the flow of the story in the beginning until you can get used to it. The book sums itself up in the end, (there is a newspaper journalist) a good wrap up for a good story, "The story has all the classic elements ..... it begins with a flying start. ....."