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Rimshot
This is a tale of the prairie, a story of survival featuring a family of coyotes. They manage to tough out the bitter winters and scorching summers and the rest of the curves that nature throws. Narrated by a wise old owl, here is a gripping yarn about becoming the wiliest of them all.
125 pages, Library Binding
First published January 1, 1982
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December 22, 2021
When the narrator of a book is an owl named Abelard, I become a willing reader. In this middle grade-to-adult read, it’s all about the wildlife and how they cope with the land and each other. It’s not an easy life but one predicated upon finding or fighting for food, while dealing with the always dangerous humans. Taken from the viewpoint of only the animals, it’s a true tale of survival on the plains.
Since Abelard the Owl is the only prairie animal not to hunker down during the cold winter season, he sees the lay of the land very clearly, learning of the daily activities with a sharp eye. He has lived in The Grassland forever and knows all the animals through several generations. Abelard believes that only those with just two legs are the wisest of all, although snakes sometimes amaze him. The prairie dogs of Dogtown are too amiable to enjoy eating and then there are those pesky coyotes, always eager to display the tips of their tails in a usually successful effort to convince Abelard the tail is a squirrel. It’s the son of one of those coyotes who becomes the star of this tale.
The coyote’s name is Rimshot, son of Bankshot. The father was a fierce coyote but lost his life when he caught “chicken fever”. This was when a coyote couldn’t resist the urge to invade the farmer’s henhouse and scarf down a chicken. But the farmer had three dogs who hated Bankshot and one day Bankshot was no more.
It was the chicken fever, and that was that. All coyotes got it sooner or later, some of them lots of times if they lasted and some of them only once or twice. There was nothing they could take for it, not prairie hens or mudhens or partridges or ptarmigans. It was chickens or nothing.
This book is about Rimshot’s adventures as he survives puphood and then navigates adulthood. Rimshot is a true scamp, full of charm and energy, so he makes the perfect hero. And there are travails galore, with the reader pulling for Rimshot and his crew all the way even though he is a born pest. But that is a coyote, after all.
I enjoyed this read. I thought at first it was a pure middle-grade read, but it’s quite good for any age group. The animals each have their own personality and I have plans to grab some of the names for any future pets.
Honeycomb the Coyote
Dayglow the Coyote
Breezeway the Coyote
Retread the Snake
Sinbad the Hawk
Highpockets the Squirrel
Filagree the Jackrabbit
Reefer the Kite
Attila the Badger
Punchkey the Boar
Rancid the Mole
Cardboard the Prairie Dog
Freestone the Beaver
Ratchet the Fox
Also, the illustrations by Julie Svendsen are beautifully appropriate, displaying a love of nature. A very nice book and a reminder that others also inhabit this earth.
Book Season = Spring (pestering and pranks)
Since Abelard the Owl is the only prairie animal not to hunker down during the cold winter season, he sees the lay of the land very clearly, learning of the daily activities with a sharp eye. He has lived in The Grassland forever and knows all the animals through several generations. Abelard believes that only those with just two legs are the wisest of all, although snakes sometimes amaze him. The prairie dogs of Dogtown are too amiable to enjoy eating and then there are those pesky coyotes, always eager to display the tips of their tails in a usually successful effort to convince Abelard the tail is a squirrel. It’s the son of one of those coyotes who becomes the star of this tale.
The coyote’s name is Rimshot, son of Bankshot. The father was a fierce coyote but lost his life when he caught “chicken fever”. This was when a coyote couldn’t resist the urge to invade the farmer’s henhouse and scarf down a chicken. But the farmer had three dogs who hated Bankshot and one day Bankshot was no more.
It was the chicken fever, and that was that. All coyotes got it sooner or later, some of them lots of times if they lasted and some of them only once or twice. There was nothing they could take for it, not prairie hens or mudhens or partridges or ptarmigans. It was chickens or nothing.
This book is about Rimshot’s adventures as he survives puphood and then navigates adulthood. Rimshot is a true scamp, full of charm and energy, so he makes the perfect hero. And there are travails galore, with the reader pulling for Rimshot and his crew all the way even though he is a born pest. But that is a coyote, after all.
I enjoyed this read. I thought at first it was a pure middle-grade read, but it’s quite good for any age group. The animals each have their own personality and I have plans to grab some of the names for any future pets.
Honeycomb the Coyote
Dayglow the Coyote
Breezeway the Coyote
Retread the Snake
Sinbad the Hawk
Highpockets the Squirrel
Filagree the Jackrabbit
Reefer the Kite
Attila the Badger
Punchkey the Boar
Rancid the Mole
Cardboard the Prairie Dog
Freestone the Beaver
Ratchet the Fox
Also, the illustrations by Julie Svendsen are beautifully appropriate, displaying a love of nature. A very nice book and a reminder that others also inhabit this earth.
Book Season = Spring (pestering and pranks)
Displaying 1 of 1 review