The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog (Hank the Cowdog 1)

by John R. Erickson

Paperback, 1988

Status

Available

Local notes

PB Eri

Barcode

864

Publication

Maverick Books (1988), 137 pages

Description

Hank the Cowdog, Head of Ranch Security, is framed for the murder of a chicken and becomes an outlaw with the coyotes.

Language

Original publication date

1983

Physical description

137 p.; 5.25 x 0.5 inches

User reviews

LibraryThing member Junep
Hank the Cowdog, "Head of Ranch Security" at a spread in Texas, is most adept at getting himself into a pickle. Charming in his own way but with elevated self-esteem and low-level intelligence, Hank and his tales are hilarious: He gets tangled up with a porcupine and a skunk (among other tales), as
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well as almost going over to the coyotes. John R. Erickson's expressive, versatile, and energetic performance brings his own creation to life perfectly
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LibraryThing member DixieDarlin
I am an adult and STILL love this series! I have every book so far. This particular book "The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog" is one of the best in the series. Hank is an ranch dog who tries his hardest to protect "his ranch" from evil things that go bump in the night (and sometimes the
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day!). He usually screws up and gets yelled at, so THIS time he decides to....join the wild coyotes. He is accepted but first he must help in a secret plan to invade the ranch that he used to call home. Hank must make a choice....be free with the coyotes or protect the ones he was so loyal to? Very very good series, and it's funny too! All the books even have CD's so you can listen to them while driving in the car or whatever. And for music lovers, there's at least 3-5 songs per book.
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LibraryThing member MerryMary
Hank is a wonderful voice in middle-school adventure series reading. Opinionated, bossy, not very bright, Hank brings giggles from kids and adults alike. My middle-school boys especially liked these books, as Hank lives in an environment they understand, and there aren't any girls around - except
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maybe a collie on the next ranch. This series is also wonderful as a read-aloud.
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LibraryThing member msmunky
Summary - This is a story about a cowdog named Hank. His main job was the Head of Ranch Security. All Hank tried to do was work very hard and to do his job the best he could. The proble in the story was there had been a murder on the ranch. Hank's job was to investigate the murder and in doing so
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became the number one suspect. There's only one thing Hank felt like he could do, head for the hills to become an outlaw. It wasn't very long when a group of coyotes wanted to teach him their way of life. That seemed to be ok with Hank because he knew he could not beat them. It became a problem when the coyotes revealed their plan to raid the ranch. Hank did not know that their plan included killing him too. During the confrontation, Loper the cowboy, started shooting to scare the coyotes away. Loper knew the coyotes were trying to get in the chickenhouse. Another murder was about to take place. Then Loper saw Hank and thought he had come back home and saved the ranch. From then on Hank was a hero and had his old job back as Head of Ranch Security.

Critique - I enjoyed reading this book. I am not use to reading middle age books. The chapters were not too long and they kept you wondering what was going to happen next. There were pictures throughout the book with detailed illustrations. It was just enough pictures to satisfy my imagination of what was going to happen in the next chapter. Students that live in the country could relate to the text better than students that are never around that type of environment. This was a good book and I would enjoy reading other pieces of this series.
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LibraryThing member cminter
This is great book to get reluctant but competent readers to enjoy reading. Hank the Cowdog books are light and funny. Once kids read one of the books in this series, they are hooked.
LibraryThing member capiam1234
Fun read for the kids, 4-6.
LibraryThing member Jean_Sexton
How have I missed this cute series until now? Everyone in the Texas Panhandle seems to know these books, and now I know why. The world that Hank lives in is the ranch life in the Texas Panhandle.

Somehow Hank keeps the Western "voice" while staying true to being a dog. There's a mystery to be
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solved and a ranch to be kept safe. There is a lot of humor amidst life lessons. I found this quotation to be one of those:

You can’t be safe and cautious all the time. If you’re too timid in this life, you’ll miss out on all the fun and adventure. You’ll just stay home and snap at the flies, and when you get to be an old dog, you’ll look back on your life and think, “All these years I’ve been on this earth, and I’ve never done anything but snap at flies.” And you'll regret that, when the opportunity came up, you didn't sneak a ride into town.

It is well worth the reading by adults who like young adult fiction. It can be shared with middle school aged children on up. I will slowly be adding the entire series of 70+ books.
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Pages

137

Rating

(104 ratings; 4.1)
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