Tiger's New Cowboy Boots (Northern Lights Books for Children) [Paperback]

Irene Morck (Author), Georgia Graham (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 14, 2003 | Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: Northern Lights Books for Children

Alberta Children's Book of the Year

Alberta Book Illustration Award

Finally, Tiger has real cowboy boots for the annual cattle drive up at Uncle Roy's ranch. As the only city kid on the trail, he wants to make a good impression. But does anyone notice?

There is just too much to do. And boy - can the trail be rough! By the time it's all over, Tiger has learned a whole lot about what real means.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A herd of cattle stampeding across the endpapers hints at the subject of this feisty picture book, in which a boy breaks in a shiny new pair of cowboy boots. Pleased as punch with his footgear, Tyler heads for his uncle's Misty Valley Ranch to help with the annual cattle drive. Despite the boy's initial precautions, his boots don't stay "soft as a pony's nose" for long as he pitches in to keep the herd together (one orphan calf in particular), guiding them up steep hills, through tangled forests and across a river. Scratched by branches, soaked by water and decorated with cow flops, in the end the boots are "muddy, stained, soggy, cut-up"Ajust like those of a real cowboyAand Tyler couldn't be more proud. Morck's workmanlike prose gives a realistic, child's-eye overview of a cattle drive. Graham's detailed drawings of cows and steeds are more convincing than those of the cowhands, but her varied mix of wide-angle shots, tight closeups and smaller sketches gives the pages a sense of movement and flow. This brief introduction to cattle herding will likely whet the appetites of aspiring ranchers. Ages 3-8.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-5-A well-done, low-key story about teamwork, originally published in Canada. Although a veteran of several cattle drives at his Uncle Roy's ranch, city slicker Tyler has always been self-conscious about wearing running shoes while riding his horse on the roundup. This year, however, he's sure that his new boots will make him an official cowboy...and might even catch his friend Jessica's eye. Disappointed that no one notices his "soft as a pony's nose" footwear, the boy finds he doesn't have much time to dwell on it as these drives are strictly business. The business at hand, of course, is moving 400 head of cattle 12 miles to the ice-cold river and then on across. Tyler's responsibilities include watching out for a recalcitrant calf and blocking an escape path between the holding corral and the river while the animals are chased into the water. Along the trail, readers see that a cowboy is defined by his initiative and grit and, just maybe, by boots that have earned some character. Graham's charming, full-color illustrations nicely complement Morck's unpretentious text. While not as detailed as Gail Gibbons's Yippee-Yay!: A Book about Cowboys and Cowgirls (Little, Brown, 1998), this gentle vignette will give children a feel for the adventure, camaraderie, and just plain hard work that goes into a modern-day cattle drive.
John Sigwald, Unger Memorial Library, Plainview, TX
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Paperback: 30 pages
• Publisher: Red Deer Press; 1 edition (January 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0889951810
• ISBN-13: 978-0889951815
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 11.1 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,787,686 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:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new favourite, July 26, 2009

By 

Jennifer Bogart "@ Quiverfullfamily.com" (Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tiger's New Cowboy Boots (Northern Lights Books for Children) (Paperback)

Year after year, Tyler makes the trip to his Uncle Roy's ranch to move 400 head of cattle to their summer pasture. This year however, he has a pair of real cowboy boots, bought on sale, "soft as a pony's nose", and smelling sweetly of new leather. This year the only city kid on the cattle drive will be considered a real cowboy by the cattle hands who call him "Tiger", and especially by his cousin Jessica.

Much to Tyler's chagrin, it's not long before Tiger's New Cowboy Boots take a beating. Starting with spilled coffee on the way to the ranch, branch lashings, manure, mustard, water, and a host of other encounters that are all part of driving cattle. As young readers follow Tyler through his first cattle drive with real boots, it soon becomes clear that all of the challenges, failures, and victories that he experiences combine to create an informal ranch-style rite of passage that finds him transformed at last into a real cowboy.

Irene Morck's prose is vivacious and nothing less than infectious. She builds Tyler's excitement at helping on the Albertan ranch into the text, and draws our entire family into her story each time. As the characters shout out, "Ee-YAAW! Ee-YAAAW! Ee-YAAAW!" our family is transformed into a pack of orphaned calf wranglers as we gallop throughout the house. Sometimes I forget and pick up Tiger's New Cowboy Boots as a pre-nap read because my children love it so much. On those days not much napping gets done.

Albertan artist Georgia Graham captures the landscape and cattle of her native province in muted, realistic chalk pastel illustrations. The skill with which she portrays the familiar environs of the Alberta foothills is evident in my grandmother's exclamation as she glanced through the book, "This looks like it could be Alberta!" Indeed, Graham's in-laws and their Misty Valley Ranch served as the inspiration for this work; in addition one of her ranch-dwelling relatives served as the model for Tyler.

The action on each page spills out of each main illustration and into the surrounding white spaces. A spill of cowboy boots across the bottom of one page, the hind leg of an orphaned calf disappearing off the page in another; the escape of characters from the formal bounds of each work of art adds to the sense of excitement throughout. At first glance the naturalistic palette utilized in this work belies the wholesome exuberance of hard-work and animal husbandry throughout. I was surprised by how much my children and I have come to love this story.

Tiger's New Cowboy Boots is now officially a new family favourite. Not only does it explore a way of life that is becoming increasingly rare, but it never fails to capture the imaginations of my children. In all fairness, I must warn you - it won't be long before the young ones in your home start keeping their eyes peeled for cowboy boot sales so that they too can have a pair of boots, just like Tiger's.

5.0 out of 5 stars This one is a favorite at our house!, July 22, 2011

By 

Emily Bright Kennedy (Alberta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tiger's New Cowboy Boots (Northern Lights Books for Children) (Paperback)

Stunning artwork and a great story. My son got this book when he was 4, he loved it then and still loves it at 6 years old.

Great story that teaches children about how a ranch works. Other themes include hard work, responsibility, compassion for animals.

This is one book that a kid will treasure for a long time.