Tales Of A Texas Boy (Paperback)

by Marva Dasef (Author)
Key Phrases: mammoth bones, Texas Boy, Dad Boles, Bobby Ray (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
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. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1438235453/

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 (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,059,761 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 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

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

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	John R. Dasef (Eugene, OR, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

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

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

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.)