Summary:
This is a story about a boy who wants to be a cowboy more than anything in the world. But he is just isn't quite ready yet. What do you think will he be a cowboy after all?

Personal Reaction:
This book is has wonderful pictures and you are rooting really hard for Avery to be a cowboy. Moral never give up on your dreams.

Classroom extensions:
1. In classroom, I will read this book to the boys. Who want to be Cowboys and I would like to see if they think Avery will make it as a Cowboy.
2. In addition, I would ask the boys where do you think Cowboys live, ride and show where their is cowboy camp at. ( )

I liked this story. It reminds me of Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester. Avery is a boy that doesn't make a great cowboy, though he'd like to. He just doesn't do the things that most cowboys do. He doesn't eat beans, ride horses, or lasso. Basically, he doesn't fit in with the rest of the campers at cowboy camp. All of that doesn't matter though when Black Bart, an evil cowboy, shows up after dark looking for Cowboy Dan and his cowboy camp. Avery outsmarts Black Bart and convinces hm that he's in the wrong place simply by demonstrating what a lousy cowboy he makes. Somehow, that convinces Black Bart that cowboy camp is actually space camp and that he's in the wrong place. It's a story of Avery's redemption. I liked it. ( )

While the villain in this tale is dumber than dirt leading to a somewhat unbelievable denoument, getting there is fun anyway. Avery is attending cowboy camp, but he soon learns that he's not exactly cut out to be your typical cowboy. Luckily, this is exactly what saves the day when Black Bart comes sniffing around the camp that night. Mike Reed's illustrations are lovely, yet comical, and nicely complement the story.
Used for July's Western Themed Tons of Fun program for 2nd and 3rd graders. ( )

Avery wants to be a cowboy, but he just doesn't fit in at Cowboy Camp. His clothes are all wrong and he can't do any cowboy things the way they're supposed to be done; he's allergic to horses, can't stand beans and grits, and rope gives him burns. But one night a low-down, ornery bad cowboy sneaks up on camp....and Avery has to decide if he does have what it takes to be a cowboy!

I liked the tongue-in-cheek silliness, especially at the end when Avery's disadvantages were turned into a way to scare off the bad guy. I did feel like we were just dumped into the story. Does he really want to be a cowboy? Where did they all come from? The story seems to have both modern elements - the cowboys in training include girls and different ethnicities, as well as the whole idea of Cowboy Camp, but the bad guy seemed right out of a Wild West story.

I didn't have any strong feelings either way about the illustrations. They have a strong Western flavor with a sort of dusty patina over everything (you think history, I think dirt) and there are some nice backgrounds for the various characters and action.

Verdict: Are any kids into being cowboys today? If so, they'd probably appreciate this book. It might be nice for kids who feel like they can't do anything right also. I'll have to try it out on some kids before I get a definite feeling for it.

This is a story about a young child, named Avery, who attends cowboy camp. He realizes that his name is all wrong, he was allergic to horses, couldn't stomach a bite of cowboy food, and got rope burn. When every one falls asleep, the meanest cowboy shows up, and Avery saves cowboy camp by tricking cowboy Dan in believing that it was space camp.

I like this story because the author, Tammi Sauer, is from Oklahoma. Being from Oklahoma, we can all relate to the story and so can our children. I read this story to my own child and replace Averys name with his. He likes this book, because it has horses and cows in it.

In the classroom, we can discuss what kinds of camps the children have been too. Since this book helps kids learn that children can be whatever they want to be in life, no matter how well they are at it, the could draw pictures of what they see their selves being.