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Loss and the value of memory are the themes of Grandpa Was a Cowboy, and while the title character doesn't die within the pages of this book for 4- to 8-year-olds, it is clear that the end is near when he tells his grandson after a visit, "I won't be back. I'm too old." The saddened youngster finds strength and comfort in the tales that Grandpa left behind--stories of Indians, covered wagons, and a life of independence and accomplishment. "He never came back," says the grandson, who also realizes that in some important ways, Grandpa will never be gone, either. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Kindergarten-Grade 4?Beautifully realistic watercolor paintings provide atmosphere and understanding to this story of a stalwart pioneer grown old. During a brief visit with his grandson, Grandpa, lean and weathered as a fencepost, tells the boy stories of his life as cowboy, photographer, farmer, and father of 11. The old man talks of the boy's parents?his mother, who died after his birth, and his father, who went to war. The child longs to live in the mountains with his grandfather instead of with his aunt and uncle, but Grandpa lovingly says, "Only trouble with us...is you're too young and I'm too old." When Grandpa boards the train to go back to the Ozarks, he leaves his grandson with stories enough to last a lifetime and a heavy silver ring as a token of his love. Illustrations and text are spare and strong, evocative and lyrical, effortlessly delineating characters and emotions while framing a span of time from the late-1800s into the mid-1920s. A memorable book.?Virginia Opocensky, formerly at Lincoln City Libraries, NE

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Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 5^-8. A young orphan being raised by his aunt and uncle describes a visit from his elderly grandfather. Grandpa arrives by train from his farm in the Ozarks, bringing only a paper bag of clean clothes. His country habits (spitting tobacco and using outdoor plumbing) annoy his son and daughter-in-law, but the boy is mesmerized by Grandpa's tales of the past and his escapades as a cowboy, photographer, and farmer. The child is fascinated to learn of his own parents, whom he remembers only from photographs. Before Grandpa returns home he gives his grandson a prized possession--a silver ring from Mexico acquired during his cattle-driving days. Dodson's watercolor illustrations aptly convey the growing bond between the two and include many period details. A good read-aloud choice for Grandparents Day, this may also spur children to discover their own family histories. Kay Weisman

An achingly lovely story of a child's regaining a sense of his family's past. Grandpa is old, gray, and willowy by the time he first visits his young grandson (who narrates), sometime early in this century. He has a touch of the mythic about him: frontier cowboy, roving photographer, Ozark homesteader, father of 11. Passing along his life story to the boy, he downplays its sheer heroism and highlights smaller pleasures. When the boy (an orphan since infancy, he lives with an uncle and aunt) produces a picture of his dad, Grandpa speaks his piece in throat-tightening simplicity: ``He was too young to be no soldier, but he done good. They told me so.'' Grandpa soon heads home to his Ozark cabin. ``I won't be back. It's too far and I'm too old.'' Throughout, the boy's sense of loss, displacement, thirst for warmth, and need for Grandpa's words are always palpable. The visit is so fleeting, yet there's no doubt this brief encounter will linger with the boy, and even change his life. The jacket painting is a little mawkish, but Dodson's fine interior illustrations are as evocative, suggestive, and as unpretentious as the old man himself. (Picture book. 5-8) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

When Grandpa departs, the sad boy is left with ... a heavy, handmade-in-Mexico silver ring. More important, he is left with Grandpa's inspiring tales of his past. -- The New York Times Book Review, Judith Viorst --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

A young boy describes his grandfather's eventful life as a young man, from his first cattle drive at age thirteen, to a career as a photographer in the Ozarks, to his first meeting with grandma and their own children, including the soldier father whom the child has never known. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition. "

 

Grandpa Was a Cowboy