How to Get Rich on a Texas Cattle Drive: In Which I Tell the Honest Truth About Rampaging Rustlers, Stampeding Steers and Other Fateful Hazards on the Wild Chisolm Trail

by Tod Olson

Overview

How to Get Rich on a Texas Cattle Drive follows the adventures of a 15-year-old cowhand on the famous Chisholm Trail through Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, as he battles stampedes, rustlers, angry Comanche braves, territorial Kansas farmers, and half a continent’s worth of dust. With a combination of tongue-in-cheek humor and actual historical detail, this fictional account draws from the personal accounts of cowhands who drove cattle from the plains of Texas to the railheads of the Midwest in the 1800’s to capture the American drive towards success and riches.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781426305245
Publisher:	Disney Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/09/2010
Series:	How to Get Rich
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	NC1100L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Tod Olson is the author of In the Line of Fire: A Story about D-Day, as well as the nonfiction series Lost and the award-winning historical fiction series How to Get Rich. A Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA recipient, Olson lives with his family in Vermont. To learn more, visit todolson.com.

Scott Allred is the illustrator of Tod Olson’s award-winning How to Get Rich in the California Gold Rush, How to Get Rich on the Oregon Trail, and How to Get Rich on a Texas Cattle Drive.

Gregory Proch is one of the illustrators of Tod Olson’s award-winning How to Get Rich on a Texas Cattle Drive and How to Get Rich on the Oregon Trail.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 3–6—Hot on the heels of How to Get Rich on the Oregon Trail(National Geographic, 2009), Texas Cattle Drive is the firsthand account of fictional A.J. "Little John" Larken's year as a wrangler on the Texas Range in the late 1800s. With tongue-in-cheek humor, an editor's note at the outset purports that the "manuscript" was rescued from the lining of a pet prairie-dog cage and further issues a disclaimer for any fun sustained while reading the "tremendously educational" pages that follow. Larken's observations and adventures include working for a not entirely honest ranch manager, interacting with ornery settlers in sod houses, and witnessing the Cheyenne Exodus. Ultimately, at the end of his drive and with the coming of the railroad and the fencing of the land, Little John joins up with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. Everyone is out to make a buck in this rough and tumble environment, Larken being no exception, and he records his income and expenses on an antique-looking ledger on various pages. A list of further reading and online resources are accompanied by a two-page "Encyclopedia of the Texas Cattle Drive" that defines historical figures and unusual words used within the text. Richly illustrated with a mix of historically authentic lithographs and "Little John Larkens's" illustrations, this book is a colorful and entertaining introduction to the period.—Madeline J. Bryant, Los Angeles Public Library

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