Monday, March 28, 2011

How To Get Rich On A Texas Cattle Drive


Booklist (May 1, 2010 (Vol. 106, No. 17)) Grades 4-8. After doling out sage advice in How to Get Rich in the California Gold Rush (2008) and How to Get Rich on the Oregon Trail (2009), the series looks at one of the more iconic careers in the Old West, the cowboy. Now, you might think that herding cattle isn’t the shrewdest way to make a fortune, and you might just be right. But that doesn’t make it any less fun to read about, and this book provides one of the better true-to-life insider accounts of what happens on a cattle drive: why the cattle are being driven, where they’re being driven to and from, and the multitude of daily chores and unforeseen obstacles along the way. Period photos and artwork, as well as original drawings, make for a lively design, and an ongoing ledger keeps track of the main character’s mostly modest finances. Oh, and the way to get rich turns out to be getting hired as a showman by Buffalo Bill and selling a book about it, so this will probably keep little wranglers’ expectations in check.

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