How To Be A Cowboy – Book Review

How To Be A Cowboy* by Alice V Lickens is a really sweet little book that will teach little ranchers everything they need to know about being a cowboy.

“Includes hours of fun with stickers, a talk-like-a-cowboy guide, a pop-out paper doll, maps to follow the journey north and a guide on how to design your own cowboy boots.  Discover everything there is to know about being a cowboy from how to wrangle cattle to picking your horse, from choosing your hat to cooking up a feast at a fireside”

What we loved about How To Be A Cowboy

There’s a lot of interactive activities, some bits to read, some bits to do, stickers on how to dress, how to brand cattle, how to talk like a cowboy and even how to find your way home following the stars. There isn’t too much reading, but lots of stuff to do, choose and talk about. The sticker page has beautifully done stickers on it, and the press out pages have clothes you can ‘dress’ the press out cowboy in too. Even the recipe pages are pull out pages, which just makes them unusual and different. It’s great, though I won’t personally be trying the sock coffee.

This isn’t a story book, but an activity book. It would suit anyone who likes the wild west, role play, cowboys or just doing activity books.I think I’ll be giving a copy to a little boy for his 6th birthday next weekend! (Along with some fancy dress).

What we don’t love about How To Be A Cowboy

There wasn’t anything about the book itself that we didn’t like, though for me I found the change in tenses a little off-putting at times. It’s not a problem, because it’s not written as a story, but for example “Cowboys HAD bad breath and never BRUSH their teeth”. Argh. I’m guessing most people don’t quite have the same reaction though. The kids certainly didn’t notice it.

Where can I find How To Be A Cowboy?

Published by Pavilion books, How To Be A Cowboy has an RRP of £9.99, which is currently it’s price on Amazon, or it’s at The Book People for £7.99 (at time of publishing). This version was only published in November last year, so it’s fairly new – there’s an older version around too, but I can’t say how it compares.