Old Chisholm Trail: A Cowboy Song Book

This hilarious interpretation of a classic American folk song gives children a wonderfully realistic look at life in the old West. Using the words of the song as text, the book charts the adventures of a few cowhands and a lot of cattle as they make their way up the Old Chisholm Trail from Texas to Kansas. Roz Schanzer’s delightful illustrations will keep readers laughing and learning from cover to cover as they see the cowpokes deal with dust, flies, bad food, hail, stampedes, and even treacherous outlaws! As a final treat, the music is included at the end of the book, so kids can enjoy singing the song again and again!

Marilyn Courtot - Children's Literature

The song may be familiar, but the presentation here is bound to bring smiles. Rosalyn Schanzer has added plenty of humor with her almost larger- than-life cowboy hero. He is a big strapping fellow with blond hair, mustache and all the equipment a cowboy should have, including his trusty white horse. Life on the trail was long, hard and none too comfortable. These cowpunchers faced bad food, heat, dust, sudden storms that could stampede the cattle, and even nasty rustlers and Indian raiders. In spite of it all, the cowboys made it to Abilene where the advantages of civilization make the cowboy life seem much less appealing. Throughout the book readers and kids can chime in with the refrain "Come a Ki yi yippi yippy yay, yippy yay!" The last page contains the music and a sample verse and of course, the refrain. The paintings on wood veneer with acrylics and colored pencil seem most appropriate for this romp in the Old West. The cows as well as the cowboys have enough expression that they should charm young readers and singers.