The Great Texas Hamster Drive

by Eric A. Kimmel, Bruce Whatley (Illustrator)

Overview

One day, Pecos Bill’s daughter Sal announces she wants a pet hamster. Her father agrees to get her two, and before she knows it, the hamsters multiply. First there are five. Then fifteen. Then twenty-eight hamsters. Eventually thousands are running around the range. They eat all the grass. They drive the longhorns away from the waterholes. Something has to be done! Why not ship them off to Chicago as city pets? And so The Great Texas Hamster Drive takes off—and that’s just the beginning of more trouble for Pecos Bill, Sal, and the whole family. Bruce Whatley’s vibrant water color illustrations bring the Southwest to life in this endearing tale.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761453574
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	01/05/2012
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	11.89(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.44(d)
Lexile:	540L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Author Eric A. Kimmel has collected and retold many tales from around the world. Among his best are Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins (A Caldecott Honor Book), Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock, and Cactus Soup. When not writing at his home in Portland, Oregon, he shares his tales at schools and conferences throughout the United States. Learn more about the author at: www.ericakimmel.com.

Editorial Reviews

Kimmel spins out an original yarn featuring Pecos Bill, Slue Foot Sue, their five children and 18,376 hamsters. When the youngest young'un, Slue Foot Sal, asks for a pet hamster, her fond parents oblige. Unfortunately, she gets two-and in no time a scampering swarm has fanned out over the prairie, nibbling down the grass and spooking the longhorns. Fortunately, Bill knows a man in Chicago who'll take them all (for pets). Unfortunately, they'll first have to be rounded up and herded to the railyard in Abilene. Using a palette of invitingly pale, warm hues, Whatley depicts squads of smiling, irresistibly cute hamsters in close-up ground level and underground scenes being herded by broad-faced, comically confused-looking "cow" pokes in full western gear. Readers who didn't get their fill of hamsters from Peggy Rathmann's 10 Minutes Till Bedtime (1998) will scurry after this rodentine rout; it also makes a good match for Barbara Ann Porte's A Turkey Drive and Other Tales, illustrated by Yossi Abolafia (1993). (Picture book. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews