Let's Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy
By (Author) Jan Thomas
Illustrated by Jan Thomas
Simon & Schuster
Beach Lane Books
1st October 2012
United States
Children
Fiction
Childrens / Teenage general interest: Cows and cattle
Picture storybooks: bedtime stories, sleep and dreams
Childrens / Teenage fiction: Humorous stories
Childrens picture books
Commended for Texas 2x2 Reading List 2013
Hardback
40
Width 229mm, Height 229mm, Spine 10mm
354g
Join the Brave Cowboy as he tries to sing his young calf pals to sleep on a dark, dark nightEEEEEEEK! IS THAT A HUGE HAIRY SPIDER OVER THERE Oh, its just a flower Well then, back to the lullaby.
No one does preschool humor with Jan Thomass wit, verve, and bold, snappy color. And her Brave Cowboy and his silly, interrupted lullaby are sure to get everybody singingbefore they head off into cozy dreamland.
* Silliness abounds as a not-very-bright, not-very-brave cowboy croons his cows to sleep. Once again, Thomas, a master at working nonsensical mayhem with her characters, succeeds in this variation of a goodnight story. A guitar-strumming cowboy has the best of intentions when he begins his lullaby to two sleepy cows. Alas, he is too easily frightened by visions of spiders, snakes and bears, but the cows reassure him. When real danger approaches in the shape of a wolf, the clueless cowboy thinks it is just a bunny rabbit. The cows know betteror do they Thomas uses her signature style of digitally rendered comic art to create a passel of endearing characters. Their very expressive faces, outlined in bold strokes of black, stand out against the intense blues and purples of the desert background. Speech bubbles with exploding type add to the bedlam. Dont save this for bedtime to share. A terrific story to read and sing, with a most satisfying finale.
Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2012, *STAR
Those who know and love Thomas will guess that the title of her latest is a clue that something is afoot. In this case, its the word Brave, because the titular cowboy is anything but. Like Thomass other stories, this one is ostensibly as uncomplicated as her big, loopy cartooning. But its actually a little gem of sketch comedy, drawing on a deep understanding of how timing, repetition, and modulation can make a story both fun to read aloud and a guaranteed laugh-getter, time and time again.
Publishers Weekly, July 23, 2012
In this, as in Thomas other comically manic crowd-pleasers, the only thing wrong is that its all over so quickly.' * Booklist, November 1, 2012 *
Jan Thomas (Is Everyone Ready for Fun) creates the perfect bedtime setup: a "brave cowboy" out to yodel his cows to sleep with a little bedtime melody under the stars.
The only problem is that he keeps interrupting his own song with not-so-brave exclamations about all the things he sees in the dark. But even the wolf in this book wants a lullaby. Thomas's signature bold outlines and blocks of saturated color will appeal to even youngest readers, and the typography--which gets larger and smaller in its speech-bubbles as the action requires--gets the emotions across. This book's great structure, friendly artwork and potential for read-aloud silliness are sure to make this a favorite far beyond bedtime. * Shelf Awareness, November 30, 2012 *
Jan Thomas is the creator ofRhyming Dust Bunnies;Can You Make a Scary Face;Here Comes the Big, Mean Dust Bunny!; Is Everyone Ready for Fun;Even Robots Arent Perfect;Even Robots Can Be Thankful!;Lets Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy; andProblem Solved!. She lives in Socorro, New Mexico.