School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-Author John R. Erickson narrates his lightly humorous episode (Studio Books, 2001) from the Hank the Cowdog series. He uses a leisurely pace, changing voices to differentiate between characters in this adventure/mystery. Sound effects include a siren, chattering teeth, and a dog munching food. Background music, including instrumental country-western plays throughout the narration and becomes somewhat distracting. The story is a bit slow in getting to the point. Hank and Drover, Texan dogs, are trapped by two coyotes. Using his wits to escape, Hank challenges the coyotes to play the Ha-Ha game which entails the dog saying "ha," the coyotes replying "ha ha," the dog saying "ha ha ha," and so forth until one of them laughs and becomes the loser. The coyote tries it and can't stop laughing, allowing the dogs to escape. Public and school libraries needing light humor, adventure, or dog stories in audiobook format might consider adding this semi-suspenseful story to their collections.-Erin Caskey, Public Libraries of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Hank, the most long-winded dog in the Texas panhandle, and his faithful sidekick, Drover, search for the end of a rainbow and end up tangling with a pair of coyotes. Hank's verbose first-person narrative is bogged down with malapropisms, song lyrics, and jokes that will produce more groans than laughs. The accompanying illustrations are cheesy. From HORN BOOK Fall 2001, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
