Buckaroo

by Betty Traylor

After the death of his mother, 11-year-old Preston Davis, a.k.a. Buckaroo, gets packed off to live in Cotton Patch, Arkansas, with his great-aunt. He doesn't know what's worst: Aunt Eugenia and her flamboyant ways, missing his mother something fierce, feeling resentful that his newly remarried father doesn't want him around, or being forced to rake leaves with Ivy Johnson, a black girl. One thing's for sure: Cotton Patch isn't home. And Buckaroo figures it never will be if he's seen with Ivy. The town may have whites and blacks, but it's 1958, segregation is the norm, and no way does Buckaroo want to alienate his few friends by socializing with black folks. Still, Buckaroo does what Aunt Eugenia says; he rakes leaves with Ivy, and confronts prejudice head-on. Friendships, he discovers, are forged and tested in unusual ways, and ugliness exists in us all. As Buckaroo deals with his many conflicting feelings, he tries to imagine what Roy Rogers, his favorite TV cowboy hero, would do. Ultimately Buckaroo finds the hero within himself.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published August 10, 1999

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only has Preston Davis lost his mom to Leukemia, but his dad has remarried and sent Preston down South to live with his "strange" aunt. It's 1958, and Preston doesn't know what to think about the first "colored girl" he's ever seen. At first, he is embarrassed and ashamed to be seen with her, but he soon realizes that all people have feelings no matter the color of their skin.

Buckaroo shows some of the discrimination African Americans faced during that time. The bravery of a couple of kids and the foreshadowing of change was encouraging to see.

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A children’s book set in segregated Arkansas shows a world in the midst of change. While some welcome the changes, others don’t and this novel is very apt at showing this in social and personal ways. The protagonist is a believable little boy, filled with typical boyish mischief but also grief about his altered life: his dead mother, his father’s over-hasty new marriage and his subsequent dismissal by his father when his son proves too much to handle.

The book shows a slice of a world gone by, one where hatred of black folks was still rampant although not as bad as it once was. Preston’s journey towards understanding is reflected in the people around him, as he learns what true friendship is and that it doesn’t relate to the skin you wear.