The Original Adventures Of Hank The Cowdog (1999) - Plot & Excerpts
So the Hank the Cowdog series is one I was vaguely familiar with—it seems to be a favorite among homeschooling parents who want their sons to be Reading Like Crazy Quick Where’s That Really Long Series About The Dog??—but one that I’d never actually read.Let it never be said that I shirk my professional development responsibilities, though! Bring it on, Hank the Cowdog #1: The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog!Okay, right off the bat, I’m in love with Hank. He can’t spell for shit (“We had a pathagorical killer on the loose!”) and he’s all folksy and Afternoon, Ma’am, and filled with Cowboy Wisdom and Know-How (“There’s a thin line between heroism and stupidity, and I try to stay on the south side of it”).Baaaaw. What a smart brave doggie.Of course, then it sort of dawned on me that Hank was also kind of a dick. Now, this is very much in keeping with the Good Ol’ Cowboy feelings the author seems to be trying to encourage, but still. He’s totally douchey towards his dog-partner, Drover, calling him worthless and lame between the ears and snapping at him and generally just being mean. But whatever! Boys will be boys, and we can’t jud—hang on, now Hank is beating up a coyote puppy. And when the mom freaks out and slaps him, he smacks her in the face and calls her a “wild hag.” Hank. Stop it.This was, of course, around the same time that we were introduced to Chief Many-Rabbit-Gut-Eat-in-Full-Moon and his coyote band, a group of wild savages described as being superstitious brawling lazy undisciplined ambitionless backward animals with thick barbarian skulls and a penchant for drinking fermented silage. “Berry berry foolish you leave ranch, come here without big-hat and boom-boom,” says Chief Many-Rabbit-Gut-Eat-in-Full-Moon to Hank.What. The hell?What kind of asshole writes derogatory 1950s-era Native American stereotypes into a modern book series aimed at children?! John R. Erickson, I realize you are A Legitimate Cowboy, but please, is this really what you want your legacy to be?I kept waiting for the punch line, right? Like, oh, we may look like we’re perpetuating centuries of racial labels, but wait, the coyotes actually aren’t anything like that! But no, apparently this was meant to be taken just as it was written, with Hank the Cowdog outsmarting all the dumbshit wild savages and saving the day for his white, manifest-destiny-loving cowboy owners.Ugh.No thank you.
I had to add these books because I remember them so fondly back in my childhood. Guaranteed I'd probably laugh if I went back and read these. It sounds silly but these books inspired me to learn to write and read lots of books at a VERY early age. I read much younger because my best friend was reading these books. I remember in class we use to get our moms to buy different ones and we'd switch. I read all of them which was a huge feat, I think it went up to like a 100? No Joke. I remember I wanted to have them all read by the end of the year. I read some of the reviews and they kinda make me laugh. For the negative one, didn't you ever watch tom & jerry? Moms are really overprotective nowadays. Organic foods for the baby, screening the television and cartoons they watch (which sure organic is a bit healthier, pricier AND guess why? dies easier. Like the bananas. They last maybe like 2 days tops) being overly paranoid over making sure their child is safe. I get it. It's a big bad world out there and you'd die if anything bad happened to your kid. But truely, its not only that there is more crime out there its more people have changed their attitude.Tom & Jerry is too violent for most moms out there today. Tom beats jerry, tries to poison him, eat him, they cut off eachother's body parts all in good fun. I watched it and look I grew up okay (mostly haha...kidding) infact I watched Ren & Stimpy which was pretty much the most disgusting kid show today. Anyways...Hank dealt with "murders" problems on the ranch and provided fun mysteries for kids. Some may call it violent or he was degrading but I found it humorous and I really enjoyed these books as a kid. Plus I had my own chocolate lab and I always pictured it looked like him. Didn't hurt. So next time you try to screen your tv/books from your child, ask yourself, didn't you ever watch something with some truth to the world in it? I bet you did.
What do You think about The Original Adventures Of Hank The Cowdog (1999)?
The Good: The writing style is fun, the humor is great, the dog's-eye perspective is amusing, the story is an underdog tale, and the book has an overall feel of a well-made old-school Saturday morning series. What's not to like?The Bad: While the book was good, it may be too edgy for some kids and/or their discerning parents.Content Concerns:• Sex: A reference to a dog and coyote having puppies together. 4/5• Nudity: None. 5/5• Language: Euphemisms like "derned" and "shucks" pop up a total of ten or so times. 4/5• Violence: The whole book revolves around chickens being "murdered" by other animals, and fights between different animals are present. 3/5• Drugs: None. 5/5• Frightening/Intense Scenes: The chicken murders. 4/5• Other: Some crude humor; a lyric that says, "I don't need no church or Sunday school." 3/5Conclusion: I've passed by this series for ages while volunteering and later working at the library, but avoided it because it had a negative stigma in my mind; it seemed like the kind of thing that my mom would have tried to get me into as a kid, but I would have refused to try it because of my ever-present behavior problems back then. I decided to move past those feelings...and I'm glad I did! Readers who are young at heart like me should definitely check this one out.Score: 4/5
—Jerry
This review is for the entire Hank the Cowdog series. These books were my childhood! Wonderful and lovable characters who have such unique personalities with a (so far) endless supply of entertaining plots. Ranging from utterly comedic (humor in EVERY book, while sometimes it's the main theme) to frustratingly touching (Oooh, right in the feels!!). Minus one star simply for all the thankless torment my dear Hank has had to go through (which I suffered vicariously). Honestly a terrific book series for all ages - and I don't always say that! Read the books, but also try the books-on-tape! The voices! Oh the voices! They're exactly how you imagined them.
—Jacqueline Wright
I think this is one of those series that was funnier when I was a kid. I thought I'd go through the audiobooks just for fun and posterity, and I realized a few things I almost wish I didn't...This book is full of awful western stereotypes, and Hank is kind of an asshole...Plus, "I'm just a worthless coyote" ? Really? ... awful.I like the sound effects and music present in the audiobooks though. It really made it kind of fun to listen to. I would recommend the audiobooks before the actual books though.
—Summer
