My Daddy Is a Cowboy
words by Stephanie Seales
pictures by C. G. Esperanza
Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2024. 40 pages.
Review written February 11, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review
2025 Caldecott Honor Book
2025 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner
This is a story of together time for a girl and her Daddy.
The book starts when he wakes her up before the sun. They get ready and ride a motorcycle to the “ranch” in the city – a regular house, with a backyard that has “stalls and stalls of horses.”
They get their horses ready – Daddy’s mare Power, and the girl’s pony Clover, and she feeds them the apple slices she brought.
And then they ride around the city neighborhood together. Daddy took her early so they wouldn’t have to worry about cars and trucks and things. Everyone who sees them smiles.
Later, Daddy will ride around the city with the other cowboys, and the girl will ride at the ranch with the other kids, but this is precious “just us” time, when she gets to be a cowboy like her Daddy.
It’s a good story about something I never guessed could happen in a big city – but what pushes it over to exceptional are the bright, vibrant, joyful, colorful illustrations.
Daddy says riding helped him feel stronger, safer, and happier.
I know what Daddy means because I feel that way when I ride.
Tall. High as the clouds.
Strong as a horse’s back.
stephanieseales.com
cgesperanza.com
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