Cowboy Up: Ride the Navajo Rodeo

by Nancy Bo Flood, Jan Sonnenmair (Illustrator)

Overview

It's morning at the rodeo. Riders are standing by. Horses are in the chutes. "Cowboy up!" the announcer calls. Then the excitement begins in this riveting collection, narrative poems give voice to the individual competitors, lively prose explains rodeo events, and evocative photographs show off the riders and ropers, the horses, bulls, and broncs. It all adds up to an unforgettable close-up view of Navajo rodeo over the course of one action-packed day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590788936
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	03/01/2013
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	1000L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Nancy Bo Flood has worked as a counselor and teacher and has lived in Malawi, Hawaii, Japan, and Saipan, the setting for her young adult novel Warriors in the Crossfire, named a Booklist Top Ten Historical Fiction Title and a Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year. She and her husband now live on the Navajo Nation Reservation in Arizona, where she has experienced, first-hand, the importance of rodeo and the traditions and culture it carries. Her website is nancyboflood.com.

Jan Sonnenmair is a commercial photographer and photojournalist based in Portland, Oregon. She specializes in lifestyle photography, and her work for periodicals such as Time, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated, and for advertising and design agencies, has taken her all over the world. Cowboy Up! is her first book for children. Her website is sonnenmair.com.

Editorial Reviews

". . .Warm and inviting, the book gives a real sense of what it's like to be a part of the Navajo rodeo. A top-notch introduction to a unique event. . . "—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

Gr 1–5—The history and tradition of the Navajo rodeo are made lively and accessible in this "day-in-the-life" account. Short narrative poems accompany each spread, recounting the anticipation, determination, danger, and excitement of the day. "Big Brahma bull/stands square,/glares./Big Brahma bull/head down/ horns able/to rip a rider wide apart./Big Brahma bull…/My turn to ride." An announcer guides readers through the book (and each individual event) page by page. "Ladies and Gents, all eyes to the arena for our first timed event. Watch close, or you just might miss the action. These calf ropers are fast as lightning!" Children will easily be roped in, from barrel racing to steer wrestling, team roping to bareback bull riding. Each event is described in concise, informative detail. The colorful photos almost steal the show as they expertly capture the athletes and animals in action. Warm and inviting, the book gives a real sense of what it's like to be a part of the Navajo rodeo. A top-notch introduction to a unique event.—Madeline J. Bryant, Los Angeles Public Library

School Library Journal

Narrative poems, expository writings and the voice of a lively announcer combine to introduce a sport largely unknown outside of the West: the rodeo. To many, a rodeo can seem frightening and even cruel. Flood, however, shares the excitement, athleticism and tradition of it all. From the morning, as the arena is set up at sunrise, until night falls and the dust settles, readers are taken on a journey through every rodeo event. The youngest compete in the "woolly rider" category: They sit atop a sheep and hold on for as long as they can. There is also roping, barrel racing, bucking broncos and, of course, riding the big Brahma bull. There is no denying the power of these animals--"hooves scraping dirt, / blocks of muscle / waiting to explode / out the chute"--nor of the riders: "I lean, lean, lean, / get positioned just right, / then split-second leap / on top his shoulders, / hold on to his horns, / crank his neck around / to twist him / down." Sonnenmair's quick-snapped action shots show simultaneous struggle and determination on every competitor's face. Though Flood asserts the importance of the rodeo in Navajo culture, aside from the competitors' faces (which are worth the price of admission), there is little here to differentiate this rodeo from others. Whether or not readers are swayed by Flood's enthusiasm for the sport, there is one universal lesson in the rodeo: Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep trying. Cowboy up! (afterword, resources) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews