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Summary
Summary
This clever celebration of words and their meanings features a strong cowgirl who wrangles words alongside cattle.
Lexie is the best wrangler west of the Mississippi-word wrangler, that is. She watches over baby letters while they grow into words and ties shorter words together into longer ones; she herds words into sentences, hitches sentences together, and pens them all in to tell a story. But lately, something seems off at the ranch. First the d goes missing from her bandana , leaving her with a banana to tie around her neck, and soon afterward every S-T-A-R in the sky turns into R-A-T-S . There's no doubt about it-there's a word rustler causing this ruckus, and Lexie plans to track him down . . . even if it means riding her horse through the sticky icing of a desert that's suddenly become a giant dessert .
This fantastic spin on "cowboy" stories populates Lexie's ranch with lively letters and words, alongside the typical cattle and horses, and stars a smart, confident, charismatic heroine. Rebecca Van Slyke's creative, silly wordplay pairs perfectly with Jessie Hartland's lively illustrations, and there's even a glossary of helpful terms for up-and-coming word wranglers.
Author Notes
Rebecca Van Slyke (rebeccavanslyke.com) also wrote Mom School and Dad School . Growing up, she always wanted to be a cowboy. Born in Washington state, she has also lived in Texas, New Mexico, Indiana, and Colorado. She studied marine biology and has a teaching degree, as well as a Masters of Fine Arts degree in writing. Currently, she teaches second grade in Lynden, Washington, where she lives with her husband, daughter, and miniature dachshund.
Jessie Hartland (jessiehartland.com) has written and illustrated many picture books, including Steve Jobs- Insanely Great! , How the Dinosaur Got to the Museum , Bon Appetit- the Delicious Life of Julia Child , and How the Meteorite got to the Museum . Her paintings have been exhibited in Venice, Tokyo, Long Island, and New York City. She has painted murals at a Japanese amusement park, designed Christmas windows for Bloomingdale's, and put her mark on ceramics, watches, and all sorts of other things. Her illustrations have appeared in the New York Times , Travel and Leisure Family , Martha Stewart Kids , Bon Appetit , and Fit Pregnancy . She lives in New York City.
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Lexie is the "best wrangler west of the Mississippi, and everyone [knows] it." She is not just any kind of wrangler. Lexie captures letters and words with her lasso and puts them together to form new ones. She transforms a "p-e-s-t" into a group of furry "p-e-t-s" and lassoes an ear of corn and a loaf of bread to make "cornbread." One day, Lexie notices that letters and words are going missing or are unnecessarily being introduced at her ranch (the "dogies" become "doggies" after someone unleashes a gaggle of lowercase g's, for instance). Lexie goes on a mission to find the culprit and stop all of the word madness. While introducing spelling, compound words, and the intricacies of language to young readers is essential, this might not be the best place to start. Many of the words that Lexie wrangles are spelled out with her lasso in an exaggerated, curvy script that will not be accessible to those learning these concepts. There are many examples of Lexie's "word wrangling" throughout that interrupt the flow of the narrative, stopping it in its tracks at times. Hartland's bright gouache illustrations capture the many colors of the American West as well as various aspects of the cowboy lifestyle. A "dictionary of wrangler words" appears in the back matter for those who may not be familiar with the many cowgirl terms used in the book. VERDICT An additional purchase for those looking for stories about spelling and cowgirls.-Christopher Lassen, BookOps: The New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Lexie is a cowgirl, but she wrangles words, not cattle-a concept that Van Slyke and Hartland explore with droll wordplay and bold, folk art-style artwork. Lexie's talents include growing letters into words (a turns to at, cat, and cattle on a tree), tying words together ("She could take a stick of butter and a pesky fly and make a beautiful butterfly"), and storytelling, but someone is causing mischief by mixing up words. "Ain't no fun sleeping out under the rats," grumbles Lexie after star gets jumbled. Luckily for Lexie, the culprit is an apprentice in the making. Luckily for readers, Van Slyke and Hartland deliver linguistic delights on every page. Compound words, anagrams, word chains, puns-is there anything Lexie (and this book) can't do? Ages 5-8. Author's agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary. Illustrator's agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.