What do you get when you take a smelly, crusty, and somewhat over-confident pooch, and place him as the head of Ranch Security? Why Hank the Cowdog of course. Toss in a loyal but hypochondriac of a side-kick (Drover), a few arch enemies (such as the clever and somewhat persnickety, Pete the Barncat), with a host of daily misunderstandings, which seem to snowball into memorable events-and you've got yourself a whole series worth of Cowdog adventures. And let us not forget the fact, that Hank (who has also assumed the role of the Private Eye too) is always on the prowl to solve any mysterious cases, which just seem to arrive uninvited-more often than not.
Nestled in the vast landscape of the Texas panhandle, Hank manages to find himself caught up in situations, that are somewhat hilarious at times, while protecting the integrity, and safety of the ranch he calls home. Now let it be said, Hank is a Cowdog-and Cowdogs have been known to speak Cowdogese. Therefore, one can find sprinkled about the pages, ill-spoken, unkind words that would cause most folks to grab a bar of soap, and start washing the guilty party's mouth out. And Hank isn't alone-seems the ranch hand, and the owners themselves, need to partake in a good old-fashioned, Bible thumping, revival meeting (or two), as well. We found ourselves squirming a bit from time to time, due to Hank's, or some other rowdy character's uncouth behavior. This series definitely provides a gold mine of material for any preacher's Sunday "Example Family" sermons. One could quote more Bible verses than a porcupine has quills (and yes, Hank has a run in with one of those too) to highlight why this behavior is not proper, nor acceptable in the Lord's eyes. Thankfully, these occur in staggered episodes, making them not too terribly overwhelming, in most of the stories we have read.
For those with younger children, the reader could easily slip in a more suitable word or two; or simply skip it all together. Usually, with older children you find that they can discern the inappropriateness regarding such antics. With a bit of impromptu character studies, you should be able to bypass having any of this permanently morph into your child's personality. We personally found these situations to be minor. The various other books we've read: Drover's Secret Life (#53),
The Case of the Swirling Killer Tornado (#25), and
Slim's Goodbye (#34) all seemed somewhat tamer than
The One-Eyed Killer Horse Stud, we received to review.
The Original Adventure of Hank the Cowdog (this is the first book, and since it was written more for an adult audience-it is by far grittier than the rest) gives you a great back story on Hank-and is worth reading. With a bit of preliminary leg work on your part; you can find many Hank stories (and there are 54 to choose from) which best suit your family. This series certainly qualifies for "fun reading", that we can work into our schedule of historical, scientific, and non-fiction readers, which we usually cover during the year. My son has enjoyed the shenanigans of Hank and his pals, and frankly I have too.
With the eighth book in this series, "The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Horse Stud", Hank and Drover find themselves in the midst of an uninvited guest at the ranch. Seems the local gotch-eyed horse named Tuerto isn't well versed in the saying, "Fences makes greats neighbors." No sir. And he also packs an attitude of high-handed (and according to Hank, he has 16 of 'em) snootiness . Armed with a drawl that mimics a Mexican Conquistador's well-bred stallion, which ole Tuerto most certainly is not; and some wild, dog-crushing guns for hind legs, he quickly becomes Hank's worst nightmare. What's more, Hank's day spews forth a valuable lesson regarding bacon grease and toast, the dangers of tangoing with Sally May, the demands of micro-managing his partner Drover, an opportunity to be all dolled up, and the exposure to a soft-handed, blue-eyed gal, Hank would lasso the moon for. After reading the story, we were left a bit bewildered about who this Hank was, or what exactly made him tick-and whether he had ticks too! We decided that Mr. Erickson (the author) had some "major 'splaining" to do. So we requested the first book (along with a few others) from the library. It gave us a much better picture of who this Cowdog is, and it set the tone for the series for us. As mentioned earlier, we did enjoy some of the other stories more than this particular one. But it did introduce us to the complicated, yet old softy of a Cowdog, Hank-and that certainly deserves a couple hats a-waving, and boisterous whooping it ups from this clan.
Now as far as games go, this puppy is quite the clever one. It comes ingeniously designed to hold all the pieces inside of its folded self. Come game time, we simply open it up to a full size, place the spinner in the center area, and put the little Hanks, Drovers and Buzzards into their positions-before taking a whirl around the board. I was very excited to see this one, because as a workbox fan (and if you are wondering what a workbox is, see my blog
What's in the Box? for more information), I knew instantly that this would not only fit into the box nicely, but looked to be rather entertaining as well. My son and I decided to do a run through first, to get things tweaked out before playing an official game. To add to the excitement of twirling around tornado alley, we found it kind of fun (in a nice way) to land on, and then send our opponents back home. Now, because one can quickly pass their finish spot, due to being thrown forward by the tornado; or end up being sent home frequently (again in a loving, competitive way)- the game can become rather long in the tooth. To rectify that, we predetermined how long we would devote to play time, and stuck to it. On a few occasions, we didn't even need to worry about that, because one of us was able to get our characters home rather quickly, naturally making it a short game.
The timing for receiving this could not have been more perfect, as we are to begin studying the weather (particularly twisters). This will definitely be added to our unit activities, as a learning tie-in. And what do you know? The
Tornado game is based on one of Hank and Drover's experiences, found in book,
The Case of the Swirling Killer Tornado. After listening to the tape (provided with the game) that highlights sections of the case, we knew we had to get it in order to learn about the rest of the story. This little gem has quickly become a favorite game round these here parts.
Lastly, the
Tales and Tunes from Hank the Cowdow CD offers up snippets of adventures of Hank and his pals, with sprinkles of songs sung by the various characters on the ranch. At first, I was a bit reluctant about listening to this-I wasn't sure what to expect. After doing so, I was pleasantly surprised to see it wasn't too shabby -or should I say "shaggy"? The excerpts provided just enough enticement to fester the desire to get a hold of the highlighted stories, so we could find out what happens next. The songs were far from corny too. All though, we preferred some over others-like the
Thank You Lord for Making Gals and
I'm Rich, it was a huge relief to this family to not have to suffer through some cheesy songfest of a CD-if you have read my reviews regarding anything musical, you would understand this statement. We have some pretty strong opinions on the matter-and usually avoid such things like the plague. Additionally, it is neat to hear the songs actually being sung-since it is very easy to read those incorrectly, from the way they are to be sung. I am planning on adding
The Tales and Tunes from Hank the Cowdog CD (with a CD player, and a timer) into our workboxes, as an additional fun activity to break up my son's regular studies, too. More importantly (especially to this momma), he was intrigued enough to sit through it, and listen quietly. Which doesn't happen all too often. That gets a big high five from me. And for the money, it is a non-spency addition to anyone's collection of Hank goodies.
**The author, Mr. Erikson, has also written several
Non-Fiction stories which may "trip your trigger", and he (currently) has penned two stories for those reading at the
Young Adult level, in your family.
and for non-readers 
**The author is Christian, but due to the various situations noted above, this series actually reflects a more Worldly view-hence the world icon instead.
Need help with icons? Click Here
Hank the Cowdog's Homepage. Look for the section of games and puzzles for kids, along with the tour of the ranch page. This is a fun site to explore.
The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse, Book #8 PB: $4.24 HB: $12.49 (on author's site)
Tornado Game $12.99, 2-4 players, ages 5 years and up
Tales and Tunes from Hank the Cowdog CD $3.00
Don't forget to read my TOS Mates' opinions on this and many fine educational products at our
TOS Homeschool Review Crew Homepage.
**Maverick Books rovided me with the free copy each of
Hank the Cowdog: The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Horse Stud book, the Tornado Game and Tales and Tunes from Hank the Cowdog CD, in order to test and use it with my family, so I could write this review.
