Crystalee reviews Leroy Ninker Saddles Up
By Kate DiCamillo and Chris Van Dusen (illustrations)
Published on August 26 2014
Published by Candlewick Press
Source: Net Galley
Published by Candlewick Press
Source: Net Galley
Yippie-i-oh! Saddle up for the first in a spin-off series starring favorite characters from Kate DiCamillo’s New York Times best-selling Mercy Watson books.
Leroy Ninker has a hat, a lasso, and boots. What he doesn’t have is a horse — until he meets Maybelline, that is, and then it’s love at first sight. Maybelline loves spaghetti and sweet nothings, and she loves Leroy, too. But when Leroy forgets the third and final rule of caring for Maybelline, disaster ensues. Can Leroy wrestle fate to the ground, rescue the horse of his heart, and lasso loneliness for good? Join Leroy, Maybelline, and a cast of familiar characters — Stella, Frank, Mrs. Watson, and everyone’s favorite porcine wonder, Mercy — for some hilarious and heartfelt horsing around on Deckawoo Drive
"What you have to do here is take fate in your hands and wrestle it to the ground."
In Leroy Ninker Saddles Up, Kate DiCamillo (author of Because of Winn Dixie) introduces us to Leroy Nicker, a small cowboy who dreams of owning a horse.
It's love at first sight when he meets Maybelline, a rather large, and rather spoiled, equine. Leroy's first hilarious adventure with Maybelline proves that a cowboy will do anything for his horse, including "wrestling fate to the ground."
At 96 pages long, this book is the perfect beginning chapter book and a quick read. It is apparently a spin-off of the "Mercy Watson" series, which I am not familiar with, and the first in the new "Tales from Deckawoo Drive" series. With cartoon-like illustrations from Chris Van Dusen, Leroy Ninker should be a hit with beginning readers.
