Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri, illustrated by Jesse Joshua WatsonRelease Date: August 9, 2011
From the 2011 Coretta Scott King Author Award winner comes a street-smart tale about a displaced teen who learns to defend what’s right— the Cowboy Way.
When Cole’s mom dumps him in mean streets of Philly to live with the dad he’s never met, the last thing Cole expects to see is a horse—let alone a stable full of them. He may not know much about cowboys, but what he knows for sure is that cowboys ain't black and they don’t live in the inner city! But on Chester Avenue, horses are a way of life, and soon Cole’s days of goofing off and skipping school in Detroit have been replaced by shoveling muck and trying not to get stomped on.
Crazy as it may seem, the lifestyle grows on Cole, and he starts to think that maybe life as a ghetto cowboy isn’t so bad. But when the City threatens to shut down the stables—and take away the horse that Cole has come to think of as his own—he knows that he has to fight back.
Inspired by the real-life inner-city horsemen of Philadelphia and Brooklyn, Ghetto Cowboy is an timeless urban western about learning to stand up for what’s right—the Cowboy Way.
-OH MY GOODNESS BLACK COWBOYS! MAYBE EVEN A BLACK COWGIRL OR TWO!! IN THE INNER CITY!!! I want this book so incredibly badly, thanks to the wonderful Tanita Davis for putting it on my radar (and she loved it). I blogged about my desire to read some diverse Westerns. Now here is my chance, I'm definitely not going to wait to read this book, I'm making a promise to myself to read it within a month (I'll review it too but who knows when that will go up? :) I am so looking forward to this story, I'm especially intrigued by the Black inner-city horsemen bit.
Thanks to Breaking the Spine for hosting this meme
Do you read Westerns, why or why not? What are you waiting on this week?
*I am in D.C. from June 18-June 24. I may have Internet access, not sure. I will respond to all emails and comments upon my return =)
