Book cover image:
Taken from Goodreads.com
(Goodreads, Inc., n.d.)
Genre:
For the purpose of this class,
The case of the monster fire: Hank theCowdog #71 by John Erickson was listed as a series
book. A deeper look at the book, the
genre could be further narrowed to contemporary realistic fiction and loosely
classified as a mystery. The story
covers the devastating wildfires that impacted the panhandle in March of 2017,
so as time passes, the book could be reclassified as historical fiction.
Book Summary:
This is the seventy-first book
in the Hank the Cowdog series that started back in 1980 with The original adventures of Hank the Cowdog. The story follows the favorite head of
security, Hank, who is on high alert because of the extremely dry and windy
conditions around Slim’s ranch. Slim, the
forever bachelor cowboy, decides it is time for him and Viola to start planning
for a future together and accepts a loan, with much resistance, from Viola’s
father to buy 10 heifers for the ranch. Hank
has always been able to defend the ranch from anything, but the monster fire
that ravages the panhandle is unlike anything the have ever seen before. Without giving away the entire story, Hank
and Slim come together during a difficult time and readers go on an adventure that
will reveal the true meaning of community.
APA Reference of Book:
Erickson, J. R. (2018). The
case of the Monster Fire. Perryton, TX: Maverick Books, Inc.
Impressions:
I am an avid lover of the Hank the Cowdog series and the author John Erickson who lives
in Perryton, TX, not far from my hometown.
I remember being introduced to the Hank series when I was in kindergarten
in 1984 and have continued to read them and share them with my boys who are now
in their teens. I had the chance to meet
John Erickson in 2013 during the annual conference of the Texas Library
Association, and now make it a point to visit him every year. That being said, in March of 2017 John Erickson
and his wife lost everything in the wildfires that burned over 300,000 acres of
the Texas Panhandle and the entire community of Hank the Cowdog lovers grieved with
them. Despite the loss, Erickson did something
very special and shared his story and thanks to his community in the newest
book of the Hank series. This book made
me laugh, made me cry, and restored my faith in humanity. In the book the community, both near and far,
comes together to help Slim and the other ranchers who lost everything,
insuring that everyone has clothes to wear, a bed to sleep, and that all the
livestock have hay and feed immediately after the fires. This part of the story
is completely true and retells Erickson’s experience when people across the
country immediately went into action to insure his family and all the ranchers
were able to survive after the fires. Trucks
and trailers came in from across the country to feed all the surviving livestock
after the fire burned up all the pastures.
After reading this book and visiting with Mr. Erickson in April, this
story was his way of saying thank you to everyone and to heal after one of the
most devastating experiences in his life.
This book gets 5 stars from me!
Professional Review:
This book was just released March
28, 2018, so there are not currently any formal professional reviews, but I
have found plenty of news articles from Texas that provide a review of sorts of
John Erickson’s most recent book. I will
share one that is particularly well written from Texas Public Radio and will
add links to the others I think are worth sharing.
The article “In 'The
Case of The Monster Fire,' Hank the Cowdog Makes It Through A True Panhandle
Tragedy” was written by Written by Christopher De Los Santos and published Michael
Marks April 2, 2018 for Texas Public Radio.
One of the staples of
elementary school library shelves across Texas is Hank the Cowdog – the dog who
fancies himself the “head of ranch security” at the M-Cross Ranch in the
Panhandle. Since 1983, Hank has solved mysteries, fended off coyotes, and pined
for the affection of the ranch’s collie, Beulah.
It’s fiction, of course,
but in his most recent adventure “The Case of the Monster Fire,” Hank faces a
challenge that’s very real for his creator, John R. Erickson. That’s because
Erickson’s ranch went up in flames during the massive Panhandle fires that
burned over 300,000 acres last year.
Erickson says that when
the fire started, the National Weather Service had been predicting it for days.
“I walked out the door and I saw the smoke,” he says. He and his wife Kris
needed to leave quickly. The next morning, his son got as close to the ranch as
he could. “The ranch was still burning, and he called us and said, ‘I have
terrible news.’ The house was gone,” Erickson says. “We also lost a nice little
guest house, and I lost my writing office and my library. We lost every book we
owned, every stitch of clothes. Kris lost ten quilts that she had made. So, we
were as homeless as snowbirds in winter.”
After the fire, Erickson
tried to keep his usual writing schedule. He kept a journal of his activities
recovering from the fire. “In May, it was time to write a Hank book,” he says.
“[The fire] was the thing that was on my mind. It had become kind of an
obsession. I wasn’t sure that I could write a funny, lighthearted book about
the kind of fire we went through, but I gave it a try and I think it turned out
quite well.” He says it typically takes him six weeks to write a Hank book, but
this one took only three weeks. The book isn’t just about the tragedy of the
fire – it’s also about the hope and generosity that came after.
“Ranchers up here had
lost 318,000 acres of pasture land, and on our ranch, our cattle had nothing to
eat,” he says. “But people in other parts of the state and as far as places
like Michigan and Ohio started sending hay. And I was getting calls from people
I didn’t know and had no idea how they got my phone number, and they were
saying, ‘Where do you want this hay?’ There were two guys from Floresville,
Texas, which is south of San Antonio, they had to go over 600 miles. Drove all night
and brought me 32 bales of hay.” Erickson says he thanked them and they went on
their way. He still doesn’t know who they were. Another call was from a farmer
in Louisiana. “His son was a Hank fan,” Erickson says, “and he heard about the
fire and he said, ‘Daddy I want to take Hank some hay.’”
Helped by fellow
ranchers, his faith community, and Hank readers from across Texas and even
around the country, Erickson is recovering from the fire and turning his loss
into an adventure for his characters and his fans.
Additional new stories on John
Erickson and the ‘Monster Fire’ can be found at:
APA Reference of Professional Review:
De Los
Santos, C., & Marks, M. (2018, April 2). In 'The case of the Monster Fire,' Hank the Cowdog makes it through a
true Panhandle tragedy. Retrieved April 24, 2018, from Texas Public Radio:
http://tpr.org/post/case-monster-fire-hank-cowdog-makes-it-through-true-panhandle-tragedy
Library Uses:
Drought and wildfires have
continued to affect numerous regions of our country in recent years including Texas,
Oklahoma, California, Montana, and many more, which means numerous children and
families have experienced a loss similar to that of Slim and Hank in The case of the Monster Fire. Libraries in these areas can use this book to
help these young people deal with some of the feelings they may be experiencing. By reading this story they can start talking
about their feelings and working through some of the emotions they are
feeling. I would encourage parents,
teachers, and/or counselors to read this book with those children and talk
about their experiences. The grief
experienced after loosing everything to fire is very real and this story can
open up the line of communication.
Additionally, parents, librarians,
and teachers can visit the official Hank the Cowdog website and go to the FanZone for games, activities, printouts, and more!
Readalikes:
The first readalike I want to
share is written by S.J. Dahlstrom who has been mentored by John Erickson
throughout his journey as an author.
Dahlstrom writes the The adventures of Wilder Good series which currently includes four books, with book five coming out this
year. The first book in the series, The elk hunt, introduces 12-year-old Wilder Good and
his family who live in a small town in southern Colorado. Wilder is on the cusp of becoming a teenager
and is really trying to figure out what it means to enter the grown-up world. Fortunately, he has a wonderful role model in
an elder from his family’s church who takes him hunting for Elk and helps him come
to grips with the world around him.
The next series readalike is
the Faithgirlz/ Princess in Camo series written by two women from Duck
Dynasty, Missy and Mia Robertson. The first
book in the series, Running from reality tells the story of Allie Carroway who
is done with reality TV. Allie and her
cousins are tired of having everything about their life broadcast for the world
to see on TV so Papaw Ray sends them on a trip to escape reality. Their
adventures lead them to explore nature, family, faith, and love with no pictures
or cameras aloud!
The final mystery/ adventure
readalike series I suggest is the A to ZMysteries by Ron Roy which features 26 books, one
for each letter of the alphabet. The
first book in the series is The absent author that is obviously featuring the letter A for author. Dink writes to his favorite author requesting
that he come and visit their town but when the big day comes the author is nowhere
to be found. Dink and his best friends
set out to solve the mystery and find the famous author before it is too late.
Checkout my Goodreads list of children and youth literature I read during
the Spring 2018 Semester at UNT.
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