B is for Buckaroo: A Cowboy Alphabet

by Louise Doak Whitney, Gleaves Whitney, Susan Guy

"L is for lariat or lasso, a loop of rope coiled just so. Swing it wide or swing it low. Hook those horns and yell whoa!" Hold on to your hat and strap on your spurs! Cowpokes and buckaroos of all ages will enjoy this A-Z gallop through the facts, feats, and folks of the cowboy way of life. Even greenhorns are invited to ride this fun-filled range!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Westerns

40 pages, Hardcover

First published September 13, 2003

Reviews

[Jason Waltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, informative, definitely Western, and I'll definitely share it with my grandchildren.

[Emily Costella · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is interesting. It goes through the entire alphabet and names something cowboy related for each letter of the alphabet. For example, C is for the chuck wagon and W is for Will Rogers. For each item such as chuck wagon and Will Rogers, there is a little section on the page explaining what each item is. It gives a lot of information and lets children know what it is if it isn't obvious for them. Each letter also has little rhymes that go with them, giving a rhythm to the story. The illustrations are very detailed and give a lot for the students to see.
Overall, I am not sure I would use this in the classroom. When children are young and learning th alphabet, I think it would be easier to teach them the sounds with words they already know. These words in this book are unfamiliar and would not necessarily help a young child learn their letters. It is also not a book they could read on their own to recognize the letters, so I do not find it helpful to keep in my library. While I do not think it is an awful story, I do not find it helpful for recognition.

[Emily Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love alphabet books for their educational value...vocabulary expansion and facts revolving around a specific theme. This is a great book with lots of information about cowboys, cattle farming, and horses. For younger children, the short “B is for Buckaroo” descriptions for each letter would be sufficient and the added information could be ignored. Probably not a great resource for teaching young children the alphabet, but it’s a wonderful and educational book for older children who are interested in learning deeper information about cowboys.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the e-book version I read, the pictures were not formatted properly and have to be enlarged (which makes them blurry) to be seen well. Like most alphabet books around a theme, this one used synonyms to finish making the alphabet, which was somewhat disappointing since many of the words were creative and went beyond mindless terms. There is misinformation about the saddle (listing parts of the saddle as the “bridle,” “reins,” and “halter.” It seemed like there was much more in-depth information about each word, but in some cases the information wandered a bit.

[Elizabeth Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

i've been on a kiddie book reading spree ... here on KU ... i think the most important ... is the VISUAL ... the illustrations. so smart ... now the words mean a lot too ... but those pics are so so IMPORTANT!!!

[Haaley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books was very interesting. It was illustrated beautifully.

[Rebekah M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations with shorter and longer versions of text to hold multiple levels of reader. Our five-year-old cowboy loved it!

[Rick Christiansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a huge cowboy fan but overall it was entertaining

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute rhymes, interesting side information, beautiful illustrations. A book that can be enjoyed by multiple age readers.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read on KU

[Lu's Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has multiple reading levels on each page. There is the rhyming section on each illustration and another encyclopedic section off to the far edges. We stayed with the rhymes. The illustrations are really engaging and dynamic-- but missing some of the diversity of actual cowboys. There are white and Hispanic cowboys only. Lu didn't notice this at all. He was more concerned with shouting out the letter of each page.

(March 2019, library book)

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I randomly picked this up at the library. I DO know my alphabet, and my dad's handle is "gaucho", but I still learned a bunch; like most cowboy terms are Spanish is origin... And ranching and herding originated in Spain. I lived the illustrations, too!

[Rusty Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Andalusia begins with an A"

Pros: I really liked the illustrations for this book. They were great! It was in interesting look on the alphabet.

Cons: The side notes were too long for our little one to pay attention.

[Cws]

JEPIC-Whi

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

pictures, history, facts, information and ideals about cowboys