Cowboy Christmas by Rob Sanders

Cowboy Christmas by Rob Sanders, illustrated by John Manders

Rating: 4 stars

This book came out last year, got noticed by the international NYTimes as well as the local Washington Family Magazine.  It's pretty cute in a perfectly goofy, nicely focussed-on-the-right-things sort of way: 


It’s the day after Thanksgiving, therefore it is time to start getting in the mood for Christmas.  Cowboy Christmas will definitely help get your children to think about all things Christmas, with a cowboy twist.  They will be decoratin’, singin’, hopin’ they get some gifts…all the traditional stuff, without the “G” at the end.

Cowboy Christmas is a fine first book written by teacher-author Rob Sanders.  At first glance it does not look like a best seller, or one that your kid would be excited about unwrapping.  But there’s more to this book than a simple tale of three cowboys out on the range rather than home for the holidays.  

These cowboys are not happy about being stuck with cows rather than their families, and kick around their disappointment in the dirt.  To cheer themselves up, they do what all kids ought to be able to do by kindergarten: they improvise.  They lasso themselves a cactus tree and use what they have to decorate it.  It looks as you might imagine it to look: pretty silly. 

To read the rest of the review, click here.