Tales Of A Texas Boy: Large Print Edition [Large Print] [Paperback]

Marva Dasef (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 16, 2008

How do you handle a crazy jackass? Eddie knows. If you ask Eddie, he'll tell you pigs can fly and show you where to find real mammoth bones. Take his word for it when he tells you always to bet on the bear. These are things he learned while dreaming of becoming a cowboy in West Texas during the Depression. Through Eddie, the hero of "Tales of a Texas Boy," we find that growing up is less about maturity and more about roping your dreams. Hold on tight. It's a bumpy ride. A wonderful read for anyone who enjoys books like "Little House on the Prairie" or "Tom Sawyer." A great bit of nostalgia for seniors, too. Bonus story included.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marva Dasef is a writer living in the Pacific Northwest. Retired from thirty-five years in the software industry, she has now turned her energies to writing fiction, most recently YA fantasy. She finds it a much more satisfying occupation. She lives with her husband and fat cat in the city in which she was born. She has published more than forty stories in a variety of print and on-line publications, and several appeared in 'Best of' anthologies. She has six published books as of January 2011, and four more scheduled for publication in 2011 and 2012 from MuseItUp Publishing. This book is based on memories of my father growing up in West Texas during the Depression Era.

Product Details

• Paperback: 138 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace; Lrg edition (June 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1438235453
• ISBN-13: 978-1438235455
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #124,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > Large Print > Poetry & Short Stories

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just for the young? Not necessarily!, January 28, 2009

By 

Al Past (Beeville, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tales Of A Texas Boy: Large Print Edition (Paperback)

Tales of a Texas Boy is a collection of 21 reminiscences of rural life in the Texas panhandle during the Depression, told in the voice of an eleven year old remembering his childhood as an elderly man (modeled after the author's father). Each tale is short and complete in itself, and all add up to a convincing evocation of what life was like during those days in that area of Texas.
The boy, of course, would not dwell on hardship, deprivation, or lack of creature comforts. From his point of view, he had regular chores to perform, a loving, fairly strict family to live with, and various spells of an interesting or exciting nature to experience.
These include adventures with snakes, a man who had a pet bear, a livestock auction, driving his father's Model A pickup truck, a wild jackass, various odd neighbors, going on an old-fashioned cattle drive, dogs, skunks, fishing, chickens, and his little sister, to name a few. Each story is preceded by a few sentences of authorial scene-setting--a nice touch--and a small black and white photograph, not credited or explained, but adding a pleasant visual accent to the pages.
The prose style has a countrified flavor, but not excessively so. Each story is well narrated, with the right details in the right place and usually a satisfying and appropriate conclusion.
Tales of a Texas Boy is intended to be a young adult book, but I see no reason younger children wouldn't enjoy it too, or adults, for that matter. I enjoyed it myself, and I am very far from a young adult. It reminded me of some of the stories J. Frank Dobie, the grand old man of Texas folklore, used to love. In fact, parents who are in the habit of reading bedtime stories to their children (an excellent idea) might find children as young as five would be entertained by them--the length of the stories is about right, and they offer a fine opportunity for parental dramatic reading. Indeed, the point could be impressed upon the child that daily life, however prosaic it might seem now, is worth gathering and writing down for the interest it might have in the future. It's easy to imagine a sleepy child asking why the Texas Boy never watched television. Calling grandpa and grandma!
(Al Past is the author of the popular Distant Cousin series and reviews for PODBRAM.)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tales of a Texas Boy, October 16, 2008

By 

Claudiacougar (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tales Of A Texas Boy: Large Print Edition (Paperback)

Tales of a Texas Boy: Well, let me say that my husband
is a Baylor grad., but has not read of book in many years.
He thought I had bought the book for him (I had not) and
read it and loved it! Maybe, this will be a start to
reading more books.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tales of a Texas Boy, June 28, 2008

By 

Elizabeth Bonecher-Brenaman "E.Brenaman" (Winterset, Iowa, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tales Of A Texas Boy: Large Print Edition (Paperback)

From an encounter with an angry skunk in a cornfield on a Texas plain to a fireside supper with a Spanish-speaking stranger under a blanket of stars, Marva Dasef takes us on a nostalgic journey with these twenty stories. Through Eddy's eyes we see Texas as it was, and an America of
days gone by. We hear, in Eddy's voice, the song of the southern plains.
Spanning the younger years of Eddy's life, Tales of a Texas Boy is a rare
gem, preserving important memories in a wonderfully true narrative. A
lovely treasure for readers of any age. My children loved it as much as I did, and after we read it, I got right back onto Amazon and bought copies for both of my Grandpas.