bilbopooh's Full Review: Jan Brett - Armadillo Rodeo
There's a delightful scene in the first season of Ugly Betty in which Marc, the effete, delicate assistant to icy magazine mogul Wilhelmina, swoons with an ear-piercing shriek upon opening a box containing a preserved armadillo, a gift to his boss from a suitor encouraging her to take it slow, stopping to enjoy life's simple pleasures. Bo, the main character in Jan Brett's Armadillo Rodeo, certainly lives up to that trait of the species.
Bo is very much like the Poky Little Puppy, wandering along with his family but getting lost easily because he is so distracted by the sights and sounds around him. Most especially, he is drawn to a pair of shiny red cowboy boots. He does not perceive them as boots, however. No, this is a fiery new friend, a rootin'-tootin' red armadillo, and she's mighty hard to keep up with.
The boots belong to a gal named Harmony Jean, who knows how to handle a bucking bronco and is equally sure-footed on the dance floor. She's not intimidated by hot peppers. Heck, she's not intimidated by much of anything, but she is rather irritated by tagalong Bo. By the time she shakes him off, Bo has long lost sight of his family. Have those red boots led him forever astray?
Brett's illustrations are as fantastic here as ever, full of action and distinct Texas flavor. There are more humans than often appear in Brett's books, but they are fun to behold, especially since they all have fancy boots in a rainbow of colors. She seems to have had more fun with those boots than any other aspect of the book.
As is typical of Brett's books, the pages all have borders appropriate to the book's setting. In this case, the theme is rope, so the borders are made of rope while rope outlines small objects contained in the border: a guitar, for instance, or a cactus. These can be seen both above and below the peepholes on either side of the main picture. Those lasso-enclosed holes give us a glimpse of the rest of Bo's family as they discover he is missing and take steps to find him, making inquiries of cows, wolves, deer and any other animals they can find.
Unlike the Poky Little Puppy, Bo doesn't face any repercussions for the fright he gave his mother, and it ends with his assertion that he can go off and do this anytime and his mom will bail him out. That seems pretty inconsiderate of him, and I'm not sure it's the most positive note to end on. Other than this quibble, though, I'd recommend this cowboy-riddled Brett book to anyone with an appreciation for the West. It's a rather silly story, but this case of mistaken identity with a splash of pokiness is an entertaining read.
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