Tales Of A Texas Boy [Paperback]

Marva Dasef (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 26, 2007

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. Also available in Large Print edition through Amazon. amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1438235453/

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Large print edition at amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1438235453/ --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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: 102 pages
• Publisher: Texas Boy Publications; 1st edition (June 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615148964
• ISBN-13: 978-0615148960
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #903,655 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for the Classroom, August 9, 2007

By 

D. Salerni (Chester County, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

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

Tales of a Texas Boy is a charming collection of anecdotes about life in Western Texas during the Great Depression. The author has related these stories through the narrative voice of Eddie, who is a slightly fictionalized version of her own father. These twenty vignettes are retold in first person, with an appropriate Texan dialect. I plan to use them in my fifth grade classroom as models for writing personal narrative. Each story is fairly short, the perfect length for a quick classroom reading, and will undoubtedly spark the students to respond with anecdotes of their own. ("That makes me think of the time ...") Although the historical setting of the tales provides an unfamiliar backdrop for most students, they will be able to relate to stories about Eddie meeting a bevy of skunks in a cornfield, briefly living his dream of becoming a cowboy, and watching an act of acrobatic derring-do from a sheep dog. Because each story revolves around one simple but charming episode of daily life, they provide perfect models for writing workshop.

Dianne K. Salerni
Author of High Spirits: A Tale of Ghostly Rapping and Romance

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Great Depression wasn't always depressing., July 20, 2007

By 

Unhinged (Eugene, OR, USA) - See all my reviews

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

Let me say up front that not only do I know the man these stories are written about, I am married to the author. Make of that what you will.

The stories are snapshots of life on a west Texas farm during the Great Depression. Eddie, the narrator, tells us of livestock auctions, county fairs, fishing trips, cattle drives, swindlers, thieves and life and death just south of the Dust Bowl. Told in the first person in an easy, uncomplicated style, they make a good read for any age. Younger readers will connect with the journey to young adulthood, while us older folk appreciate the vividness of the picture so gently painted for us.
The end of the book leaves you wanting more.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A time machine to the 1930s, May 11, 2010

By 

J. Chambers (Georgia, United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Tales of a Texas Boy (Kindle Edition)

"Tales of a Texas Boy" is a collection of twenty anecdotal stories told by a young boy, Eddie Perkins, who lived on a farm in rural Texas with his mother, father, a younger brother, and a younger sister during the 1930s when the country was deep in the Great Depression. I assume that Eddie is a fictional character, although the stories read like a true memoir.

I enjoyed the book very much. I was born in the 1940s, and I have a special fondness for the period from the 1920s through the 1950s, the period when my parents and I were growing up and coming of age. Marva Dasef has done a marvelous job of capturing what it was like for kids in the rural southwest in the 1930s. They probably never realized how tough their life was, and they actually had fun. Even though I was born a generation later, I related to the stories, especially in how siblings got along with each other.

Some of Eddie's anecdotes might have seemed mundane to another Texas kid in the era, but to me, a suburban kid in the post-WWII era, they were far from mundane. Try to imagine the thrill of hunting for (and finding) dinosaur fossils or going to town to buy livestock. Rattlesnake hunting with the local men was a thrill for Eddie, and little did he know what kind of animal he would rescue from a huge rattler's mouth one day. And handling a 1500-pound jackass? No problem, but make sure you get the instructions for taming the beast!

Some of Eddie's neighbors ("neighbor" meaning they lived no more than a few miles away in the sparsely settled west Texas landscape) were especially interesting, notably the Luck brothers, Fred and Frank. Although they were twin brothers living together, they passionately hated each other and spent most of their time trying to kill each other. Unfortunately they had a habit of taking things that didn't rightfully belong to them, including women, and this kept them in hot water!

Eddie's adventures included a remarkable encounter with a famous movie star. No spoilers, but just think "Come up and see me sometime, boys." Okay, that was probably a spoiler!

The most poignant moments of the book were Eddie's recounting his ma and pa's stories, including his pa's service in World War I.

I enjoyed "Tales of a Texas Boy" so much that I bookmarked some of my favorite stories for rereading. Most of the stories are short and would make great readings to kids today who can hardly imagine a time of grinding poverty with no modern conveniences, and yet a time when kids like themselves made do with what they had and had fun.

Definitely two thumbs up and five stars.