Black Cowboy, Wild Horses [Hardcover]

Julius Lester (Author), Jerry Pinkney (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Bob Lemmons is famous for his ability to track wild horses. He rides his horse, Warrior, picks up the trail of mustangs, then runs with them day and night until they accept his presence. Bob and Warrior must then challenge the stallion for leadership of the wild herd. A victorious Bob leads the mustangs across the wide plains and for one last spectacular run before guiding them into the corral. Bob?s job is done, but he dreams of galloping with Warrior forever?to where the sky and land meet. This splendid collaboration by an award-winning team captures the beauty and harshness of the frontier, a boundless arena for the struggle between freedom and survival. Based on accounts of Bob Lemmons, a former slave, Black Cowboy, Wild Horses has been rewritten as a picture book by Julius Lester from his story ?The Man Who Was a Horse? in Long Journey Home, first published by Dial in 1972.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A spirit of freedom pervades the pages of this picture book, accompanied by the sound of thundering hooves and the feel of the heat and dust of the plains. Based on an incident in the life of Texas cowboy Bob Lemmons, the tale centers on his success in corralling a herd of wild mustangs with only the aid of his horse. Possessed of a legendary tracking ability, Lemmons, a former slave, follows the drove day and night, infiltrating the herd astride his black steed, Warrior. In a dramatic climax, he defeats the mustang stallion for possession of the herd. Lester and Pinkney, who previously collaborated on John Henry and Sam and the Tigers, reunite in an impressive display of teamwork, transporting readers, through the alchemy of visual and verbal imagery, to the heart of the action. The resulting sense of immediacy offers a vivid taste of the cowboy life, whether it's hunkering down all night during a sluicing rain or riding under the wide-open skies. Lester studs his seamless prose with powerful descriptions, such as when a hawk is "suspended on cold threads of unseen winds," or the mustangs sweep toward the corral as "a dark surge of flesh flashing across the plains like black lightning." The fluid brushwork of Pinkney's watercolors seem tailor-made for the flow of muscle, mane and tail of wild mustangs galloping across the prairie. Notable for the light it sheds on a fascinating slice of Americana, this book is essential for anyone interested in the Wild West. Ages 5-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4APinkney and Lester add a picture-book chapter to the lore of this nation's "true West" with the retelling of a story of a wild horse hunt by the black cowboy Bob Lemmons. He and his stallion, Warrior, wander on the prairie until they find the tracks of the animals they seek. Bob then spends days in a very slow approach to the herd. Horse and rider finally join the herd and are accepted by the wild horses, until at last Bob challenges the lead stallion for control. On Warrior's back, he fights the stallion, defeats him, and then leads the animals into captivity in the ranch corral. Throughout, both text and pictures emphasize the blending of all life. The linkages between the cowboy, the animals, and the natural world are so strong that lines separating them are blurred. Lester and Pinkney's stated aims were to recast their childhood love of cowboys and the Old West with more recent historical research into the contributions of men of color, both black and Hispanic. They have done that, and achieved something else as well: youngsters will reflect on the relationships between humans and other animals. Pinkney's pictures were never better, making it all the more unfortunate that text boxes cover some of the action. Lester's overuse of metaphor is also a drawback. Still, this book will inspire heavy-duty thinking on the part of young readers.ARuth Semrau, formerly at Lovejoy School, Allen, TX
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Dial; 1st edition (May 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803717873
• ISBN-13: 978-0803717879
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 9.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107,499 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Children's Books > History > United States > 1800s

More About the Author

Born in 1939, Julius Lester spent his youth in the Midwest and the South and received a B.A. in English from Fisk University in 1960.Since 1968 he has published 25 books of fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and poetry. Among the awards these books have received are the Newbery Honor Medal, American Library Association Notable Book, National Jewish Book Award Finalist, The New York Times Outstanding Book, National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, Caldecott Honor Book, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and a National Book Award Finalist. His books have been translated into eight languages.He has published more than one hundred essays and reviews in such publications The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Op-Ed Page, The Boston Globe, The Village Voice, The New Republic, Katallagete, Moment, Forward, and Dissent.He has recorded two albums of original songs, hosted and produced a radio show on WBAI-FM in New York City for eight years, and hosted a live television show on WNET in New York for two years. A veteran of the Civil Rights Movement, his photographs of that movement are included in an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution and are part of the permanent photographic collection at Howard University.After teaching at the New School for Social Research for two years, Mr. Lester joined the faculty of the University of Massachusetts/Amherst in 1971 where he is presently a full professor in the Judaic and Near Eastern Studies Department, and adjunct professor in the English and History departments. He also serves as lay religious leader of Beth El Synagogue in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.He has been awarded all four of the university's most prestigious faculty awards: The Distinguished Teacher's Award; the Faculty Fellowship Award for Distinguished Research and Scholarship; Distinguished Faculty Lecturer; and recipient of the Chancellor's Medal, the University's highest honor. In 1986 the Council for Advancement and Support of Education selected him as the Massachusetts State Professor of the Year.Mr. Lester's biography has appeared in Who's Who In America since 1970. He has given lectures and papers at more than 100 colleges and universities.His most recent books are John Henry, And All Our Wounds Forgiven, a novel about the civil rights movement, and Othello, a novel based on the Shakespeare play.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Multiethnic Biographical Picture Book, May 22, 2000

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A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Cowboy, Wild Horses (Hardcover)

This book is based on a true story about Bob Lemmons, a African American Cowboy. The pictures are outstanding representations of the story. It is a tale of a cowboy and his ability to ride with wild horses. He has the ability to lead the horses into thinking that he is one of them. Yes, a wild horse! This book could be used as an introduction to biographies or cowboys for young people. I would read it to 5-10 year old children. It is wonderfully written and would be a asset to any school or public library.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Sadly can't recommend this book, June 20, 2004

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Cyndi-marie Myers "murphmyers" (Arizona United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Black Cowboy, Wild Horses (Hardcover)

Although the writing is not very good it makes up for it by having a story that goes nowhere and has no real ending. Being a mother of two black boys I am alway looking for books that have black charactors in them--so I was quite pleased to buy a black cowboy book for them. This books disappoints in almost everyway. The purple prose is so overwrought that you feel as though you are reading a new line of pulp romances for children. The story involves an ex-slave enslaving wild horses while wishing he himself could leave this life and let his horse ride free into the distant horizon. In the midst of the book we are introduced to a lively wild colt only to have this colt immmediatly bit by a snake and die. It is this tragity that unsettles the herd of horses so that the mounted cowboy can take over as alpha horse and lead them to a waiting corral to be broken by the cheering white cowboys to whom he never speaks.
On the plus side the illustration's muddly watercolors are pleasing to the eye.

5.0 out of 5 stars great service, April 22, 2010

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C. - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Black Cowboy, Wild Horses (Hardcover)

I bought this for a young African American girl. There seem to be few role models in equestrian topics. Arrived quickly and in great shape.