With a seven year old reader in the house, our family has grown fond of well-written easy reader books...books with short chapters, lots of illustrations, and only a few sentences per page. Our favorite classics include anything by Arnold Lobel and the Little Bear series by Eloise Minarik and Maurice Sendak. We've also come to appreciate some newer books for young readers, especially Cynthia Rylant's Mr. Putter and Tabby series.
Our newest favorite "easy readers" are the Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa books written by Erica Silverman and illustrated (or as the cover says, "painted by") Betsy Lewin. The fifth Cowgirl Kate installment, Horse in the House, came out earlier this year, and it's become my daughter's favorite. In fact, it's made her want to go back and read all the earlier books again.
Cowgirl Kate is a young girl who looks to be about eight or nine years old. She usually sports jeans, a western style shirt and bandana, and bright red cowgirl boots. She has carrot-orange hair she wears (appropriately enough) in a pony-tail. She lives on a small farm with a red barn in back of the house. That's where her pet horse Cocoa lives. He's chocolate brown with a lighter mane and tale, and an intelligent, mischievous disposition that may remind you of your favorite toddler. He also has a big appetite!
Did I say Cocoa lives in the barn? He does, but in this installment, he's decided the barn is boring. He's been curious about life in the house and is hoping for a chance to move in, if he can find a "stall" that's roomy enough, and plenty of oats!
This delightful book provides five short chapters of the fun and affectionate bantering Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa are known for. Yes, I did say banter. Cocoa -- much like the famous fictional horse personage Mr. Ed -- can talk. He can be downright chatty, which sometimes can exasperate Kate, though her fondness for him is always evident.
Horse in the House has a good dose of humor that children in the 6-8 age range will enjoy. Cocoa's determination to find a "stall" in the house where he feels at home is matched by Kate's determination to give him a quick tour and get him out of there by the time her parents come home. My daughter giggles when he explores the bathroom:
Suddenly, his eyes grew wide. "You could put lots of oats in that bin!" "It's a bathtub," said Cowgirl Kate. "It's where people take baths." "Oats are better than baths!" said Cocoa. "There are oats in the barn," said Cowgirl Kate.
She also loves it when Cocoa discovers ("Yuck!") that the apples on the dining room table are made of wax. And she laughs when Cocoa learns what a refrigerator is...and how to pronounce the word.
Cowgirl Kate is also pretty crafty. She has to be to have a pet like Cocoa! How she finally convinces Cocoa to go back to the barn is funny and sweet...though of course the horse has the last word.
Lewin's pictures are simple, colorful and funny. They're sketched in bold, dark lines filled in with quick washes of watercolor. Both Kate and Cocoa are cartoonish looking, but their faces are quite expressive.
Silverman's writing style, as you can see from the above excerpt, is simple enough for early readers to tackle with confidence. Most of the story is told through dialogue between the two main characters, but there are occasional sentences of description. Though many words are one-syllable, there are enough longer, more challenging words to keep intermediate early-readers interested. This book includes words like whiskers, explore, window, belong, faucet, swirls, and statues. I also appreciate the use of a variety of action verbs.
If you have a young reader who likes horses or just enjoys a good laugh, I highly recommend Horse in the House and the entire Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa series.
~befus, 2009
Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Horse in the House Harcourt, 2009 ISBN 9780152053901
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