ROSIE AND THE RUSTLERS

by Roy Gerrard ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 15, 1989

Gerrard has employed his mastery of the story-told-in-whimsical-verse to subjects as diverse as his fictional ballads about Sir Cedric and the exploits of Sir Francis Drake. Now he presents a parody of a Hollywood western--a story, unremarkable in itself, about how Rosie's six ""boys,"" who have names like Fancy Dan, Salad Sam, and Mad McGhee, get the best of the miscreants who are after their herd. What is remarkable, however, is Gerrard's ever-clever versifying, of the sort to leave readers startled with admiration at the end of each neatly scanned, concise stanza; and his exquisitely designed and executed watercolors, with wonderfully evocative landscapes peopled by his funny little tall-hatted characters and full of nifty details--a teddy bear in Utah Jim's upper bunk, or the nine outlaws escaping on horses with what must be almost 36 tangled legs. Ironically, Gerrard's effort to simultaneously caricature and counteract stereotypical thinking is less than perfectly successful: although she's the boss, Rosie never actually does much, while the boys ""Work extremely hard, to stop her getting cross""; and it's the friendly Cherokee who can track the rustlers across impossible terrain. Still, like Rosie's celebration at the end, enormous fun.

Pub Date: Nov. 15, 1989

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1989

Categories: CHILDREN'S