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Bone Head: Story of the Longhorn
Illustrated by Sandy Shropshire
Awards Reviews School Library Journal, February 1, 2004, pg. 0171: Grade 4-7 - This slice of Texana is a fascinating mishmash of longhorn history as well as a realistic overview of the cattle drives that romanticized--and too often killed--cowboys. The skinny longhorn was famous for its hardiness and orneriness and was the king of the open range. However, these animals fared poorly in the confines of railcars and as the 19th century drew to a close, they eventually ceded their popularity to more profitable, chunkier cattle that were calmer, faster maturing, domesticated, and shorthorned. Shropshire's line drawings and diagrams (of cattle trails, trail drive herd positions, longhorn body parts) complement and clarify the text, and the selection of archival photographs nicely re-creates rugged range life. Sidebars are filled with curious anecdotes and cow facts. Unfortunately, the glossary is incomplete, omitting unfamiliar terms used in the text like "remuda" and "topknot." Thoroughly engaging, if sometimes rambling and not always longhorn-specific, Bone Head evokes empathy for the cowhands and drovers who endured the elements, outlaws, and dangerous horns of stampede-prone cattle, and also creates a strange sympathy for this revitalized symbol of the second-biggest state.--John Sigwald, Unger Memorial Library, Plainview, TX |
