The Zebra-Riding Cowboy- Historical Fiction

The Zebra-Riding Cowboy is a historical fiction storybook based on the Old West. What is interesting about this book is that the words are actually the lyrics of a song that the cowboys used to sing. It is a folk song about a man who happens upon a pack of cowboys. They see that the man talks and looks as though he is educated. Therefore, they believe that he knows nothing about horses and decide to play a trick on him when he asks to borrow one. They give him the wildest horse that they have, named the Zebra Dunn. The stranger mounts the horse and the horse goes wild. Much to the surprise of the cowboys, Zebra Dunn is not able to throw him from the saddle. When the stranger is done riding Zebra Dunn, all of the cowboys are left in awe. The boss offers the stranger a spot on the ranch to help lasso the herd. He ends up fitting in perfectly with all of the other cowboys and is a valuable asset to their team. I found it very cool that this was actually a song that got turned into a book. It sends the message of not judging a book by its cover in a very fun and different way. Not only would young children get that moral message, but they would also be learning about the Old West and some of the songs that they sang back then. All of these components make this quite an effective book.