Yokel = a person from the country (not the city) The jig is up = the game is over the truth has been exposed Wet your whistle = have a drink (usually alcohol) (Let’s move these cattle.)Ī dude = a person who tries to dress like and talk like a cowboy, but really is a city person Giddy up = let’s go (often said while riding to a horse) So saddle up partner, because here we go! Today I thought I’d teach you some common cowboy phrases and sayings so that you can understand cowboy-speak next time you hear it. Actually, my four-year-old just grabbed Cowboy and Octopus off the library shelf at random, and we're glad she did.I’m sure you have seen and maybe heard cowboys in American films and on TV, but did you know that American cowboys have their own dialect or way of speaking? Well, they do. You can buy Cowboy and Octopus at or your local bookstore, or look for it at your local library, which is where we found it. I wondered what could possibly be so funny, and then read the book myself and found out! My husband and the kids apparently do-they read this book before bed last night, and before long all three dissolved into fits of giggling and laughter. It definitely helps to have a dry sense of humor to appreciate the full hilarity of Cowboy and Octopus. Hallmark-style friendship sentiments give way to laugh-out-loud hilarity, such as when the cowboy cooks his new friend a dinner of his favorite foods-beans with bacon, bacon with beans, and just plain beans with a little bit of bacon (none of which octopus likes), when octopus futilely attempts to tell cowboy a knock-knock joke, or when cowboy feels the need to tell octopus the truth about his new hat. A paper cut-out of a cowboy and an octopus, seemingly sourced from a mid-century clip art piece and a comic book, meet and become friends. Scieszka and Smith are the creative team behind the equally funny and offbeat The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, which my husband brought home one day and has remained a favorite in our house ever since.Ĭowboy and Octopus seems fairly innocuous at first.

Our favorite children's book this week is the delightfully twisted Cowboy and Octopus, by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith (40 pages, Viking Juvenile, 2007). The books aren't necessarily new, but are those that are new to us! If you have a book that you'd like to have us review for the site, please contact us and let us know about it. Since we seem to be reading a lot of books lately, we thought we'd start reviewing a new favorite children's book every week.

Cowboy & Octopus by Jon Scieszka