Black Cowboy Wild Horses: A True Story

BIBLIOGRAPHY :

Lester, Julius. 1998. Black cowboy wild horses: A true story. Ill. by Jerry Pinkney. New York: Dial Books. ISBN 0803717873.

PLOT SUMMARY:
Texas Cowboy, Bob Lemmons, horse tracker and former slave has a gift of being able to gain the confidence of wild horses. He can “read” tracks and signs left behind by wild horses, knows where they are going, where to look and how to introduce himself and his horse, Warrior, as newcomers into the herd by instinct.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
This story does not contain any mention of physical attributes of its main character. The title contains the first textual mention of culture - Black Cowboy Wild Horses: A True Story. The narrator uses the rich language pattern of cultural descriptive speech when describing the landscape/setting as in “The sky was curved as if it were a lap on which the earth lay napping like a curled cat.” and “Far, far away, at what looked to be the edge of the world, land and sky kissed.” The author Julius Lester shares his inspiration for writing this story with an authors note at the end of the story. The illustrator, Jerry Pinkney used “pencil, gouache and watercolor on paper” for the colorful two page spreads. He illustrates skin tone, facial features, body type, clothing, hairstyle and the general environment of frontier-life with general ease. The illustrations are authentic and portray the cowboy lifestyle with an authenticity of an artist in tune with his subject.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S):

Review from SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “Gr 2-4 Pinkney and Lester add a picture-book chapter to the lore of this nation's "true West" with the retelling of a story of a wild horse hunt by the black cowboy Bob Lemmons. … Throughout, both text and pictures emphasize the blending of all life. The linkages between the cowboy, the animals, and the natural world are so strong that lines separating them are blurred. … Pinkney's pictures were never better, making it all the more unfortunate that text boxes cover some of the action. Lester's overuse of metaphor is also a drawback. Still, this book will inspire heavy-duty thinking on the part of young readers.”

Review from BOOKLIST: “Ages 5-9. One of every three cowboys who helped tame the Wild West was either Mexican or black. This is the true story of one of the latter, Bob Lemmons. In language rich with simile and metaphor, Lester's account focuses on the former slave's uncanny tracking abilities as he trails a herd of mustangs as well as his mission to tame the wild horses and lead them back to the corral. Pinkney's earth-colored gouache and watercolor paintings add the look of the Texas plains to Lester's account and capture the energy of the horses as they gallop across sweeping, double-page spreads.” Lester and Pinkney's manifest love and respect for the West and cowboys of color, whose contributions have been too long overlooked, distinguish their latest collaboration.

Review from PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: “Lester and Pinkney, who previously collaborated on John Henry and Sam and the Tigers, reunite in an impressive display of teamwork, transporting readers, through the alchemy of visual and verbal imagery, to the heart of the action. The resulting sense of immediacy offers a vivid taste of the cowboy life, whether it's hunkering down all night during a sluicing rain or riding under the wide-open skies. Lester studs his seamless prose with powerful descriptions, such as when a hawk is "suspended on cold threads of unseen winds," or the mustangs sweep toward the corral as "a dark surge of flesh flashing across the plains like black lightning." The fluid brushwork of Pinkney's watercolors seem tailor-made for the flow of muscle, mane and tail of wild mustangs galloping across the prairie. Notable for the light it sheds on a fascinating slice of Americana, this book is essential for anyone interested in the Wild West.

CONNECTIONS
Activities

*Read aloud as story about the bonds between humans and animals.

*Feature as a story of the month during Black History Month.

*Use in genre lesson about Fiction and Non Fiction.

*Use this story to introduce lessons about Texas cowboys.