Pecos Bill

by Steven Kellogg, Laura Robb (Illustrator)

Overview

"The anecdotes associated with Texas's fabled cowboy hero burst from the pages in rapid succession, Kellogg's robust illustrations enlarging and enriching the energetic text."—School Library Journal. "A read-aloud treat....One of Kellogg's best."—Booklist.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780688099244
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/18/1992
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	127,796
Product dimensions:	8.38(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.11(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Steven Kellogg was "moved by the simplicity, the subtleties, and the poignance of the writing in this story." He welcomed the opportunity to reillustrate it in full color. Mr. Kellogg is an award-winning author and illustrator who has created more than one hundred children's books, including The Three Little Pigs, Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, and Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett. He is the illustrator of Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town and The Baby Beebee Bird. Mr. Kellogg is a recipient of the David McCord Citation and the Regina Medal for his distinguished contribution to children's literature. He lives with his wife, Helen, in upstate New York.

Editorial Reviews

. . . combines visual farce with verbal exaggeration to provide a graphic rendition of an American tall tale. . . . Kellogg's portrayal of Pecos Bill as a perpetual boy will appeal to children. The retelling is a smooth adaptation for introducing young listeners. . .

Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books

Steven Kellogg's artistic qualities of playful inventiveness and exaggeration and his knack with language make him an ideal teller of tales. Kellogg has done a spledid job with Pecos Bill, taking several episodes and enriching them with visual humor...excellent introduction to the tall tale for the picture-book crowd.

Horn Book

A rootin'-tootin' hero of ``the rugged pioneer days'' comes to glorious life in Kellogg's characteristically antic prose and pictures. Ages 5-up. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

PreS Up The anecdotes associated with Texas' fabled cowboy hero burst from the pages in rapid succession, Kellogg's robust illustrations enlarging and enriching the choppy, energetic text that is seasoned with Texan expressions. In dramatizing Pecos Bill's life story, Kellogg also conveys a sense of place, of the rugged, expansive physical beauty of the American West in pioneer days. Yellow-oranges and blues dominate the scenes, in tones that range from dust-pale to midnight blue. Skillful framing and alternating of perspectives enhance readers' involvement: vast panoramas in which people are dwarfed by endless stretches of land and sky; double-page spreads cluttered with close-up action; breathtaking overviews, as of a tremendous herd of cattle, each steer made distinct, yet part of a near-monochromatic blend of hazy light and animal landscape. In contrast to these lavish illustrations are neatly-boxed illustrations that parallel the text, sometimes spilling from the frames when the action simply can't be contained. Kellogg's style is ideally suited to this tall taleantic, detailed, colorful, hyperbolic. Susan Powers, Berkeley Carroll Street Sch . , Brooklyn

School Library Journal