Zayda Was a Cowboy Book

Named a 2006 Notable Children's Book of Jewish Content by the Association of Jewish Libraries

"The year was 1980. Fifty-two Americans were being held hostage in Iran, and President Carter's efforts to rescue them were not successful ... Ronald Reagan got elected president, John Lennon of the Beatles was shot dead, I drove everyone nuts singing the Doobie Brothers hit 'What a Fool Believes' night and day, and Zayda came to live with us."...

And so begins the extraordinary story of how one family, and one young boy in particular, are changed forever when Zayda (Yiddish for "grandfather") comes to live with them. At first the young narrator, Bill, is resistant to all the changes in the house: Zayda spooks his friends, tries to get Bill to speak Yiddish, and demands strange foods like herring.

But as Zayda starts telling Bill and his brother Danny the fascinating story of his life, a story filled with many extraordinary dangers and adventures, the boys begin to see their grandfather in a whole new light. From why, as a young boy, he was forced to flee his Russian village for America to how he eventually became a cowboy, Zayda holds the boys captive with his amazing tale.

Like Zayda's grandsons, young readers -- and their parents and teachers -- will also be entranced by Zayda's saga. While the characters are fictional, Zayda's experiences are historically correct and are a colorful retelling of a fascinating yet little-known time of Jewish-American history.

This book, like Zayda himself -- funny, touching, and memorable -- is destined to be a favorite of Jewish and non-Jewish children alike, teachers, librarians, and educators for many years to come.

Publishers Weekly

Stories of Jewish immigrants coming to America from Europe abound, but most of them focus on arrival at Ellis Island or other Eastern U.S. ports. Taking a different tack, Nislick shines the spotlight on efforts to help Jews immigrate to Texas and the Southwest in the early 1900s by offering the tale of one family's emigration. In the year 1980, Bill and his younger brother, Danny, are adjusting to having their elderly grandfather move in with them, a situation that has put some strain on the household. But as Zayda feels more comfortable, he tells his grandsons a fascinating bedtime story of how, as a boy, he bravely journeyed from a tiny town in Russia to Galveston, Tex., and became a true-blue American cowboy. In Nislick's ambitious story-within-a-story (winner of the Sydney Taylor manuscript award), Zayda's recollections whiz through lots of history, beginning with the persecution suffered by Jews in many European countries of the day. Though many of the details and situations seem spot-on, the writing style often relies on exclamation points and a "can you believe this?" tone that makes Zayda seem less a real character than a contrivance for relaying important facts. In the end, however, readers of various ages will find much of interest in this look at a little known bit of Jewish and American history. Ages 8-12. (May) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.