Cowboy Slim by Julie Danneberg is a touching story about a cowboy who just doesn’t fit in. He writes poetry and is proud of it at first until someone calls it sissy. Then he fails and fails and fails again at all the things that “real cowboys” can do. When the herd is in danger though Slim saves the day with his rhymes! This book was too long for my son at 2 to enjoy but 4-5 year olds would be perfect for this length of book as well as the message about putting other people’s interests down and why it’s okay to be different even if others don’t get it.

Every Cowgirl Needs a Horse by Rebecca Janni is everything a children’s book ought to be. It’s clever, cute, and has a great message without being preachy. It’s Nellie Sue’s birthday and the one thing she really wants is a horse. See she is a cowgirl, everything she does she relates back in her imagination to some chore on the farm. When she is cleaning out her guinea pig cage, she is “cleaning the stalls at the barn” and when she is filling her dog’s water bowl she is “filling the trough” . When her birthday surprise isn’t a horse but a bike instead she is a little skeptical but with her imagination and true cowgirl spirit she makes it into the best horse ever! I loved how her parents play along with her imagination but don’t simply get her a horse, rather they present her the bike as if it is one, in her own terms. Great book!

Cowboy Small by Lois Lenski is a cute cowboy book for the younger set. We have the board book edition and it’s been loved for a long time at our house. The text is simple, the drawings are charming and the book covers all the basics of what a cowboys does day and night. From corralling cattle, eating from the chuck wagon and my son’s favorite singing cowboy songs by the campfire before hitting the hay in the bunkhouse , Cowboy Small does it all.

Cowboy Camp by Tammi Sauer is funny and touching all at the same time. Avery is off to Cowboy Camp to learn how to be a real cowboy, only one problem, every lesson turns into a disaster. He can’t stomach cowboy food, he is allergic to his horse and ends up on a cow instead, and he gets rop burn when he is learning to lasso. After the other campers head to bed Avery encounters the nefarious Bad Bart a bad cowboy who wants to stop cowboy camp, Avery outwits him and saves the day. I loved that there was no teasing from the other campers and each time Avery came to an obstacle he was offered an alternative ( cheese and crackers to eat, a cow to ride and yarn to lasso with) instead of simply sitting out. Great book to read before summer camp!

I Want to be a Cowgirl by Jeanne Willis is a story about a little city girl who doesn’t want to grow up to have tea parties. cook, clean or sew. She doesn’t want to be a girly girl at all, she wants to be a cowgirl. I love the sentiment in this book, how adamant she is about knowing what she wants and the lengths she goes to be a cowgirl using bananas as six shooters, and turning her dad’s rug into chaps! I like the message about following your own dreams not what society tells us we should be, and the rhyming text is perfectly suited for this sassy tale.