Texas Grit

The Adventures of Wilder Good #2

by S.J. Dahlstrom

Will Rogers Medallion - Gold Medal Winner 2015

"If you like Hank, you'll like Wilder Good, too."—John R. Erickson, author of Hank the Cowdog

"I am a big fan of this series. Last fall I included The Elk Hunt in my list of favorite books of 2013, and Texas Grit is every bit as insightful and positive as the first one."—Glenn Dromgoole

"Dahlstrom writes about ranch life with flair and specific detail."—WORLD magazine

In Texas Grit, Wilder spends a week in West Texas at his grandfather's ranch, while his mother and father travel to Denver to see her doctors.

Wilder finds it hard to leave his parents. Papa Milam is a cowboy, gruff and sometimes a bit intimidating, yet grandfather and grandson care for each other very much—and find they actually have lots to learn from each other, too.

Wilder works cattle on horseback and explores the rough ranch country with Papa. One night they start out to hunt for whitetail deer in the cottonwood bottoms but end up encountering a rattlesnake instead. A few days later, four cowboys arrive at the ranch to help with the branding of Papa's new calves. Wilder gets the opportunity to join the crew and takes his place alongside the grown men in the strenuous and sometimes dangerous work of herding, roping, and branding.

Wilder does a lot of growing up over the week, and together he and Papa experience the kind of adventures that only a place like Texas can provide.

S. J. Dahlstrom lives in West Texas. He is a board member and founder of Whetstone Boys Ranch & Boarding School in Mountain View Missouri. In his writing he also draws on his experiences as a cowboy, husband, and father.

141 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2014

About the author

S. J. Dahlstrom is a writer in West Texas. He has numerous magazine credits for his writing and photography. He has spent his life bouncing around the outdoors from New Mexico and Texas, north to Colorado and Montana and east to Michigan and New York.

The Adventures of Wilder Good is his first book series. In his writing he draws on his experiences as a cowboy, husband, father, and boys ranch founder.

Reviews

[birdie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Texas Grit is about Wilder Good going to stay with his grandpa, while is mother is going to the doctor for cancer treatment. While he is with his Papa, he learns the hard work of being a cowboy, and he ropes cattle, brands, meets a rattlesnake, and goes hunting.
I think it was better than the first because it was a little bit longer, and we get a little more taste of Wilders attitude and what he’s like. Being a Texas girl myself I was sort of setting high expectations for this book, and I was pleasantly surprised. The first book had hard work and learning, but I think this one teaches more of a lesson and really grasps the hard work of the ranch.
Again a few things were a little bloody and gross. Maybe young boys would enjoy. :)
I liked Papa and Wilders bond. They were both quiet and rough, but sweet and funny.
My favorite part was in the end when Wilder comes home. He just talks to his sister. And Papa carries Wilders mom into the house. I thought the ending was very sweet and a good ending to a book filled with rattlesnakes, and black eyes, and intense cattle roping, and falling off horses, and blood. But I did enjoy it. It was not my favorite book. 3.5 stars. But I do think young boys would enjoy it and anyone who likes reading about this kind of stuff.

[Richard Jespers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish books written with such frankness had been available when I was a boy. Dahlstrom tells the simple but interesting story of a twelve-year-old Colorado boy named Wilder who spends a week with his grandfather (called Papa). Why? Delicately revealed but not sugar-coated is the fact that his mother is being treated for cancer. While with his grandfather, Wilder learns all about ranching in the Texas panhandle. He learns more about diamond-back rattlesnakes when one appears in the blind where he and Papa have sighted a deer. Wilder learns what branding is all about, how the male calves are castrated and their testicles pan-fried as an epicurean delicacy. The author reveals so much rich information about a Texas ranch without being didactic. At the end of the week, Papa drives Wilder back to Colorado (he’d taken the bus down), an eight-hour journey that ends in the dark. But he returns to find out his mother will be all right. And . . . he has returned with his new knife stained with bovine blood as well as the skin and rattler of that snake Papa kills in the blind. A satisfying story that a child can live vicariously for the time it takes to read it!

[Mandie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book full of accurate information on ranching and cattle works, written in an interesting and intriguing way. Along with all the adventure there are morals that are taught. This book (along with all the books in the series) pull at my heart strings and I have to stop reading out loud to choke back tears. Read this book aloud to my family, husband and 5, 3, and 1 year old. All of them enjoyed it and always wanted me to keep reading.

[Ann Checketts · Rating 4 out of 5]

My boys are liking this series well enough to keep going with it. 👍🏻

[Max Bakke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real vivid description of cow castration in this one. And some nice stuff about his mom.

[Linda Branich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Appropriate for about ages 8-13

I received this book at no charge from Goodreads First Reads. Tnis fact has no bearing on my review; writing a review was entirely optional on my part.

Twelve-year-old Wilder Good lives in Colorado with his family. His mother is ill with cancer and he goes to Texas to his grandfather's ranch for a week. Wilder's dream is to cowboy, not just be a cowboy, but do the work of a cowboy and live the life of a cowboy. For that one week he lives his dream--hunting with his grandfather, riding, counting cattle, practicing his roping, replacing fence posts, meets up with a big rattlesnake, and works like one of the men during branding.

I found this book to be a pleasant surprise from much of the other young adult books produced lately. Instead of a young man being faced with drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, sex, crime, abuse, neglect, preoccupation with death, and bullying---this book is about honesty, hard work, respect for one's parents and other adults, acting responsibly and accepting age appropriate responsibility, --not just talking the talk, but walking the walk.

I found the book comparable to and a more modern version of the Boxcar Children and Sugar Creek Gang books, much along the lines of teaching the values from The Waltons and Little House on the Prarie, things that are greatly lacking for many young people today.

[Sharlan Proper · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a true grit passage at the branding that will make moms a bit squeamish, but it's a great read. Great story of hard work and courage under pressure from both the boy and his grandpa.