Hank the Cowdog has been a beloved favorite of children and parents for years, and this novel was the first in a set that has stretched into over 70 books. Hank is a lovable dog whose dedication to his job as watchdog at the farm is surpassed only by his wisdom about…well, if you ask him, everything. He and his eager sidekick, Drover, gallivant about the farm getting into hilarious adventures and riotous fun. This book is literally laugh-out-loud funny. Reading it out loud, I had to stop and catch my breath before continuing several times.

The characters in this book are endearing. Even the villains are enjoyable and entertaining. All of the book’s major characters are animals, and the author’s take on how those animals see themselves and converse with one another gives charm to the book.  Hank the Cowdog is the sort of book that inspires children to want to read or to be read to. But beware because if you pick up this book to read to a child, you may just find yourself talking in a country cowdog drawl as you narrate.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  1 religious exclamation; 1 mild obscenity. 

Violence/Gore:  A few verbal threats; animal remains are discovered a few times, and a character carries around the animal remains for a while; report of a fight between animals; a character fires a gun at animals with no or only minor injury a few times; a few fights between animals with no major injury; a man has to extract porcupine quills from an animal, which is a painful process (but not gory); an animal bites another; a fight between animals with some blood described.

Sex/Nudity Rating:  A dog thinks about how pretty the dog next door is; animals talk a few times about the possibility of getting married; a character jokes about being chased by beautiful women.

Mature Subject Matter:

One type of animal speaks and acts in ways that are stereotypical of Native Americans, and some of those stereotypes are negative.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Animal characters become intoxicated by eating silage.