Bill Pickett: Rodeo-Ridin' Cowboy [Hardcover]

Andrea Davis Pinkney (Author), Brian Pinkney (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1996 | Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: K and up

This is the true tale of the feisty cowboy-child who became the most famous black rodeo performer who ever lived. A note about the history of the black West and a bibliography are included. “The text is fascinating, and the oil paintings on scratchboard are full of energy and motion, matching the book’s powerful mood.”--School Library Journal

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Probably no other black cowboy has been as celebrated as Bill Pickett. A rodeo star, he has been honored with a postage stamp and has been the subject of a handful of books, including Bill Pickett, Bulldogger: The Biography of a Black Cowboy and Guts: Legendary Black Rodeo Cowboy Bill Pickett. Add to that list the children's book Bill Pickett: Rodeo Ridin' Cowboy by Andrea Pinkney. No matter how you feel about rodeo, it's hard not to admire Pickett, who was known to bring an unruly steer to its knees by taking a bite out of the animal's upper lip.

From Publishers Weekly

The husband-and-wife team behind Dear Benjamin Banneker and Alvin Ailey continue their superb profiles of noteworthy African Americans with this rip-roarin' salute to a legendary cowboy. Andrea Pinkney's informed, colorful text, peppered with cowboy slang ("Hot-diggity-dewlap!"), provides a lively foil for Brian Pinkney's distinctive scratchboard illustrations. His medium, with its old-fashioned woodcut flavor, works well for biography in general and this one in particular; the fluid lines and energetic cross-hatchings create a sense of motion that reinforce the depictions of the cowhand's active life. Readers will follow with interest the tale of the "feistiest boy south of Abilene" who grew up to become a famous rodeo performer, renowned for his "bulldogging" stunt (which he invented as a child, after watching a bulldog subdue a restless cow by biting its sensitive upper lip). The author gives Pickett's (ca.1860- 1932) life story ample context, too, bolstering it with information about the role of African Americans in settling the West; an afterword discusses black cowboys in general. As Pickett's fans might have said, "Hooeee!" Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books; 1st edition (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 015200100X
• ISBN-13: 978-0152001001
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,803,683 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, October 1, 2007

By 

S. Zacharski (Chicago,IL.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bill Pickett: Rodeo-Ridin' Cowboy (Paperback)

This is a great book especially if your doing a cowboy theme. My students loved the book!!

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting for adults as well as children, June 16, 2011

By 

Annie Pope (Pasadena) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bill Pickett: Rodeo-Ridin' Cowboy (Paperback)

Cowboys in old-time Westerns were always white. But, up to 30 percent of cowboys in history were African Americans. No one realized this throughout most of the 20th Century. Certainly not the general public. Now, finally, another true facet of American history is being revealed. Children's books that tell it like it really was and treat legendary African American heroes with the same level of charismatic stardom allotted Euro American cowboys are crucial. Here's a cool book kids of all ages can enjoy. But now we need the movie, too.