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The Dirty Cowboy
This ol' boy needs a bath!
After he finds a tumbleweed in his chaps and the numerous bugs buzzing around him affect his hearing, the cowboy decides it's time to head to the river. Once there, he peels off all his clothes and tells his trusty old dog to guard them against strangers. He takes a refreshing bath and emerges clean as corn—but so fresh-smelling that his dog doesn't recognize him! Negotiations over the return of the clothes prove fruitless. A wrestling match ensues in a tale that grows taller by the sentence, climaxing in a fabric-speckled dust devil.
Amy Timberlake has inserted a Western twang into this tale of filth and friendship, and Adam Rex has found many creative means of bodily concealment in his expressive, comical paintings.
After he finds a tumbleweed in his chaps and the numerous bugs buzzing around him affect his hearing, the cowboy decides it's time to head to the river. Once there, he peels off all his clothes and tells his trusty old dog to guard them against strangers. He takes a refreshing bath and emerges clean as corn—but so fresh-smelling that his dog doesn't recognize him! Negotiations over the return of the clothes prove fruitless. A wrestling match ensues in a tale that grows taller by the sentence, climaxing in a fabric-speckled dust devil.
Amy Timberlake has inserted a Western twang into this tale of filth and friendship, and Adam Rex has found many creative means of bodily concealment in his expressive, comical paintings.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published August 8, 2003
2 people are currently reading
297 people want to read
About the author
Amy Timberlake
7 books195 followersAmy Timberlake's work has received a Newbery Honor, an Edgar, and a Golden Kite Award. One book was chosen to be a Book Sense Pick, another was reviewed in The New York Times Book Review. Her books have made several "best books of the year" lists, and she loves it whenever her books are chosen to be part of a state reading list. (Thank you!) Chicago's Lifeline Theatre has adapted both One Came Home and The Dirty Cowboy for the stage. She's received residency fellowships from Hedgebrook, and the Anderson Center.
Her most recent book, One Came Home, has been called "a True Grit for the middle school set" by Bookpage, "a valentine to sisterhood and a bird that no longer exists" by The Washington Post, and "a rare gem of a novel" by The Christian Science Monitor.
Her most recent book, One Came Home, has been called "a True Grit for the middle school set" by Bookpage, "a valentine to sisterhood and a bird that no longer exists" by The Washington Post, and "a rare gem of a novel" by The Christian Science Monitor.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews
June 18, 2023
**This summer, my best friend and I are tackling the American Library Association’s list of the 100 Most Banned/Contested Books in the United States! This is book 7/41 for me. Add me as a friend to follow my reading journey.**
January 15, 2025
In 2025 i'm planning to focus my reading on the USA's most challenged/banned books, so i thought i'd start reading books intended for the youngest readers and work my way up.
Should it be banned? Hell no.
What should you tell your kid if they bring it home from the library? "Gosh, i bet that cowboy must smell real REAL bad. He ain't cleaned hisself in more'n a month and he works outside all day? Hoooowee, I think i kin smell 'im from here! Harr harr harr."
My Subjective Summary plus The Naughty Drawings Hidden Below
Should it be banned? Hell no.
What should you tell your kid if they bring it home from the library? "Gosh, i bet that cowboy must smell real REAL bad. He ain't cleaned hisself in more'n a month and he works outside all day? Hoooowee, I think i kin smell 'im from here! Harr harr harr."
My Subjective Summary plus The Naughty Drawings Hidden Below
October 5, 2021
3.5 stars
I find the story to be cute and totally acceptable.
Reason it was Banned:
The Lebanon, PA school board banned it in an 8 to 0 vote. They called the book a gateway to pornography. Ummmm...
The book is about a cowboy who needs a bath. The official description is:
"After he finds a tumbleweed in his chaps and the numerous bugs buzzing around him affect his hearing, the cowboy decides it’s time to head to the river. Once there, he peels off all his clothes and tells his trusty old dog to guard them against strangers. He takes a refreshing bath and emerges clean as corn – but so fresh-smelling that his dog doesn’t recognize him! Negotiations over the return of the clothes prove fruitless. A wrestling match ensues in a tale that grows taller by the sentence, climaxing in a fabric-speckled dust devil."
Just to be clear - there is NO unacceptable nudity in the book. Adam cleverly concealed anything that anybody might find offensive. In fact, that's part of the fun of the book - how creative he got with hiding the cowboy's nakedness. Many a Norman Rockwell magazine cover showed more nudity than this book does.
https://dulemba.blogspot.com/2012/05/...
I find the story to be cute and totally acceptable.
Reason it was Banned:
The Lebanon, PA school board banned it in an 8 to 0 vote. They called the book a gateway to pornography. Ummmm...
The book is about a cowboy who needs a bath. The official description is:
"After he finds a tumbleweed in his chaps and the numerous bugs buzzing around him affect his hearing, the cowboy decides it’s time to head to the river. Once there, he peels off all his clothes and tells his trusty old dog to guard them against strangers. He takes a refreshing bath and emerges clean as corn – but so fresh-smelling that his dog doesn’t recognize him! Negotiations over the return of the clothes prove fruitless. A wrestling match ensues in a tale that grows taller by the sentence, climaxing in a fabric-speckled dust devil."
Just to be clear - there is NO unacceptable nudity in the book. Adam cleverly concealed anything that anybody might find offensive. In fact, that's part of the fun of the book - how creative he got with hiding the cowboy's nakedness. Many a Norman Rockwell magazine cover showed more nudity than this book does.
https://dulemba.blogspot.com/2012/05/...
February 11, 2015
Originally reviewed here
When bugs start setting up camp in and around his body, a cowboy hitches up his horse and rides down to the river with his dog who is instructed to watch the cowboy's clothes while he bathes. But problems arise when the dog, no longer finding his owner's scent familiar, doesn't allow the cowboy his clothes back.
The writing is full of humor and lush sensory details and the illustrations are hilarious, beautiful, and endearing at the same time.
Which is why it angers me so much that the Annville-Cleona school board in Pennsylvania recently voted 8-0 to ban this book from the school's library after a parent complained that the book was pornographic.
In the meantime, do the book world a favor and go out and buy this book. Show book banners that the only thing you do when you censor books is give those books an even bigger voice in the world.
When bugs start setting up camp in and around his body, a cowboy hitches up his horse and rides down to the river with his dog who is instructed to watch the cowboy's clothes while he bathes. But problems arise when the dog, no longer finding his owner's scent familiar, doesn't allow the cowboy his clothes back.
The writing is full of humor and lush sensory details and the illustrations are hilarious, beautiful, and endearing at the same time.
Which is why it angers me so much that the Annville-Cleona school board in Pennsylvania recently voted 8-0 to ban this book from the school's library after a parent complained that the book was pornographic.
In the meantime, do the book world a favor and go out and buy this book. Show book banners that the only thing you do when you censor books is give those books an even bigger voice in the world.
January 4, 2017
5/2014 ** Read aloud with my 4th graders! They laughed hysterically and rolled around on the floor - literally. :)
4/3/13 ** I requested this book from the library because I'd seen it on a "most challenged" list. Apparently, some have trouble with the nudity - of course, the premise is that the cowboy can't get his clothes back from his dog after he took a bath. The illustrations are very clever, with key body parts covered by the dog's tail, ears, dust whirlwinds, etc.
What really drew me to the book though is the prose. Amy Timberlake must have worked many hours on choosing just the right words. This would be a fabulous mentor text in writers' workshop. Fabulous verbs, interesting layout of the words on the page, a wide range of interesting vocabulary, etc.
4/3/13 ** I requested this book from the library because I'd seen it on a "most challenged" list. Apparently, some have trouble with the nudity - of course, the premise is that the cowboy can't get his clothes back from his dog after he took a bath. The illustrations are very clever, with key body parts covered by the dog's tail, ears, dust whirlwinds, etc.
What really drew me to the book though is the prose. Amy Timberlake must have worked many hours on choosing just the right words. This would be a fabulous mentor text in writers' workshop. Fabulous verbs, interesting layout of the words on the page, a wide range of interesting vocabulary, etc.
May 2, 2012
Apparently, some mother tried to get this book banned because the dirty cowboy gets naked to take a bath. At no time can you see anything ban-inducing. The cowboy is always covered up by a judiciously placed bunny, frog, dog's tail or other item. I think kids will get a kick out of this slightly naughty book without being exposed to any of the naughty bits. Only two stars because the illustrations just didn't do it for me. I want my cowboys to look like Clint Eastwood, not Howdy Doody.
Read
August 18, 2008This is a clever idea perfectly married to excellent illustrations. Half the fun is seeing how Adam Rex, the artist, hides various bits of the cowboy's anatomy, first as he goes for a bath, and later as he wrestles his dog for his clothes. It's a hoot.
December 4, 2011
I really liked this mostly because it was so well illustrated. I loved the expressiveness of the characters and the story was silly fun like the old Steven Kellogg tall tales. I really liked this all the way through.
May 16, 2009
One of my kids' all-time favorites. Great story about a cowboy and his dog and the annual ritual of bathing. Hilarious illustrations add to the fun. But Timberlake's story is a hoot!
April 22, 2010
I used this book in a text set about cowboys. A cute story about how a cowboy’s dog becomes confused after the cowboy takes his yearly bath.
July 11, 2010
A very funny book about a cowboy who takes a much-needed bath and instructs his dog not to allow anyone, under any circumstances, to take his clothes. The illustrations are delightfully naughty.
March 26, 2017
“The Dirty Cowboy” written by Amy Timberlake and illustrated by Adam Rex was challenged in April 2012 due to the illustrations of this book. But the story itself had no controversial objections from the parents who challenged the book.
“The Dirty Cowboy” is about a cowboy who decided to get his yearly bath in the river after realizing how dirty he is. Leaving his clothes by the riverside, the cowboy washes himself. Unfortunately, upon exiting the river, his trusty dog does not recognize the cowboys new scent and takes the cowboy’s clothes from him since the dog does not believe it is his cowboy. After much wrestling and rolling around in the dirt, the cowboy begins to smell like his old dirty self and his dog recognizes his identity once again.
The illustrations are the reason this book became a controversial book for schools and was banned in Annville-Cleona School District. A few parents in PA were concerned that the nudity found in each page were worried that children would think “that looking at nudity is OK, and therefore pornography is OK”.
There is nothing in this book ban-inducing. Adam Rex does a brilliant and humorous job and cleverly being covered up in each illustration that adds great character and light-heartedness to the story.
“The Dirty Cowboy” is about a cowboy who decided to get his yearly bath in the river after realizing how dirty he is. Leaving his clothes by the riverside, the cowboy washes himself. Unfortunately, upon exiting the river, his trusty dog does not recognize the cowboys new scent and takes the cowboy’s clothes from him since the dog does not believe it is his cowboy. After much wrestling and rolling around in the dirt, the cowboy begins to smell like his old dirty self and his dog recognizes his identity once again.
The illustrations are the reason this book became a controversial book for schools and was banned in Annville-Cleona School District. A few parents in PA were concerned that the nudity found in each page were worried that children would think “that looking at nudity is OK, and therefore pornography is OK”.
There is nothing in this book ban-inducing. Adam Rex does a brilliant and humorous job and cleverly being covered up in each illustration that adds great character and light-heartedness to the story.
June 26, 2017
I would consider this book to be banned because of the way the author set the scene. This book may be enjoyable for middle school students but not elementary. It is inappropriate for young children. I mean the book talks about him getting naked to clean off his body..in public! We need to teach younger kids this is not what you do to clean yourself off. After reading this I could not think of one lesson plan where I would read this book. I found it disturbing and not fun to read at all. I would not recommend this book to any teachers.
September 28, 2020
I do not understand how this book could make it onto the banned book bus, but it did. Timberlake spins a wonderful comic yarn handed down through generations of her family. Yes, it's about a naked cowboy, but he's taking a bath, not doing anything provocative or racy. This is G rated all the way, and it's laugh-out-loud funny. What child could be offended? Not a one. No, it's those sensitive snowflake moms, I'm afraid, who want to wrap their darlings in tissue paper and keep them safe. From laughing? Sigh.
August 12, 2019
I thought it was funny because the dog said, "this isn't yours! Grrr!" - G, age 7
I like how dirty the cowboy was. - R, age 3
I like how dirty the cowboy was. - R, age 3
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 29, 2021
This is part of my 365 Kids Books challenge. For a fuller explanation see my review for 101 Amazing Facts about Australia You can see all the books on their own shelf. The Reviewers seemed to run correctly last week, but that was just one list. According to whatever stat is used on the profile page, I have read 8,149 books which should put me at #7 on US Readers of all time. the current #7 has 8,099. I get not wanting to be obvious about what it is they're actually counting, because of course people will game the system. People already are, in fact. But however they arrive at that number, it seems like I would make the top 100 of all time, right?
As I type this I am awaiting the broadcast of an awards ceremony for the class of '21-in-the-time-of-pandemic. Missing the first college graduation tomorrow or the last high school graduation last year isn't the end of the world, but it does make me a little sad. So with the Offspring grown there's a heavy nostalgia aspect to this project.
What I notice this reading is that Rex's images are so very much desert, not the California backlots that have stood in for "The West" in so many films. Also, and this is random, I thought I remembered that he lived on the east coast before moving west. One of these books said he'd been raised in Arizona so I figured I was making that up, but no, there really was a documented stint over hereish.
***
28 August 2013
There's a cowboy in New Mexico who sets out to take his annual bath in the river. Trouble ensues, comically. The text seems slightly off: it's got a good voice to the tale, but it seems to broken up strangely, so that some pages are rather dense with text.
But nevermind! The cowboy looks a bit like Alfred E. Neuman when he's clean, the dog looks like a big bad wolf when he's at work, and there's lots of small critters and pests to discover in every spread. Fun to read aloud and get all twangy with. Lovely attention to location-accurate flora and fauna, much appreciated by the desert-fond among us.
***
3 September 2011
Challenged as "pornographic": a word the challengers apparently don't know the meaning of. Although the cowboy is nude for most of the story, Rex has artfully and amusingly managed to hide his genitalia and even his butt crack in every picture. There may have been man nipples, though. I'm not sure. [double-checked in 2021: yes, plenty of nipples]
Library copy.
As I type this I am awaiting the broadcast of an awards ceremony for the class of '21-in-the-time-of-pandemic. Missing the first college graduation tomorrow or the last high school graduation last year isn't the end of the world, but it does make me a little sad. So with the Offspring grown there's a heavy nostalgia aspect to this project.
What I notice this reading is that Rex's images are so very much desert, not the California backlots that have stood in for "The West" in so many films. Also, and this is random, I thought I remembered that he lived on the east coast before moving west. One of these books said he'd been raised in Arizona so I figured I was making that up, but no, there really was a documented stint over hereish.
***
28 August 2013
There's a cowboy in New Mexico who sets out to take his annual bath in the river. Trouble ensues, comically. The text seems slightly off: it's got a good voice to the tale, but it seems to broken up strangely, so that some pages are rather dense with text.
But nevermind! The cowboy looks a bit like Alfred E. Neuman when he's clean, the dog looks like a big bad wolf when he's at work, and there's lots of small critters and pests to discover in every spread. Fun to read aloud and get all twangy with. Lovely attention to location-accurate flora and fauna, much appreciated by the desert-fond among us.
***
3 September 2011
Challenged as "pornographic": a word the challengers apparently don't know the meaning of. Although the cowboy is nude for most of the story, Rex has artfully and amusingly managed to hide his genitalia and even his butt crack in every picture. There may have been man nipples, though. I'm not sure. [double-checked in 2021: yes, plenty of nipples]
Library copy.
March 30, 2014
Originally reviewed at Jayne's Books.
I read this book due to some news that this book had been removed from district's two elementary schools in The Annville-Cleona School District in Pennsylvania. And honestly, I didn't see anything wrong with it. Since its a children's book, everything that needs to be covered up is covered up. While it didn't blow my mind away, it was a wonderful story about a cowboy who got dirty and when he noticed his own stench, he decided to take a bath.
Honestly, I don't see what the one parent thought that the book needed to be banned from two elementary schools and what the big deal was about. Like I said before, anything that didn't need to be seen was hidden from view, either through blurring or through various objects in front. Its funny how one parent can cause a book to be removed from a school.
I realize that I am not a parent, but honestly if you have an issue with a book that your kid brings home from school, maybe you should either not allow them to sign things out from the school library and only allow them to sign out items from the public library that you approve of or go into your child's school library with your child and sign out a book with you there. I honestly think that some parents have way too much time on their hands to make a child's book an issue.
I read this book due to some news that this book had been removed from district's two elementary schools in The Annville-Cleona School District in Pennsylvania. And honestly, I didn't see anything wrong with it. Since its a children's book, everything that needs to be covered up is covered up. While it didn't blow my mind away, it was a wonderful story about a cowboy who got dirty and when he noticed his own stench, he decided to take a bath.
Honestly, I don't see what the one parent thought that the book needed to be banned from two elementary schools and what the big deal was about. Like I said before, anything that didn't need to be seen was hidden from view, either through blurring or through various objects in front. Its funny how one parent can cause a book to be removed from a school.
I realize that I am not a parent, but honestly if you have an issue with a book that your kid brings home from school, maybe you should either not allow them to sign things out from the school library and only allow them to sign out items from the public library that you approve of or go into your child's school library with your child and sign out a book with you there. I honestly think that some parents have way too much time on their hands to make a child's book an issue.
March 17, 2013
This was another book I picked up because I love Adam Rex's illustrations. Thankfully the story and illustrations in this book were awesome. It is so much fun to do in a southern accent (not saying all cowboys are from the South, but it works in this case). The book is about a cowboy that lives on his own with a horse and dog (really a wolf). He decides one day to take a bath. It's the detailed drawing that kill me in the book, from the "cowboy's hair housing thirty-two fleas and a small gray spider" and the tumbleweed that gets stuck in the back of his chaps. The cowboy goes to soap up and rinse off in the river and tells the dog that no one but him can touch the clothes. Then the hilarity ensues: from the carefully blurred out or obscured genitalia before jumping in the water, to the dog not budging from the now-clean cowboy's clothes because he doesn't smell right, and a fight breaks out between the dog and the naked cowboy trying to get his clothes back. Only after they've been tussling in the mud and the clothes have all been ripped apart does the dog realize that this is his owner. So the cowboy, horse and dog walk back home together. Highly recommended for ages 5-12, 5 stars.
October 29, 2014
This picture book is about a dirty cowboy and his dog. Once the cowboy decides that he can no longer stand his filth, he heads down to the river to take a bath, (and even though he asked his dog to guard his clothes beforehand) the dog does not recognize his master when he gets out and the cowboy has to go through a wrestling match to try and get his clothes back. I gave the book a four out of five, because although the book is very funny and cute, (although everything is covered) I think that it may be a little risky having illustrations of a naked cowboy. I think that the dominant themes of the book could be loyalty and friendship. I think that the age that this book is most suitable for would be around 6.
June 5, 2012
I liked this book; I thought it was cute, and funny, and clever. The target audience, however, did not. My niece couldn't figure out why a person would fail to bathe in a year's time, and my nephew was bored and just whined through the whole book. I really expected the kids to at least giggle, but that just never happened.
The pictures in this one were nicely done--I especially enjoyed the colors and found it very evocative of the Southwest. *I* think this is more than a two-star book, but when the kids don't bite...
The pictures in this one were nicely done--I especially enjoyed the colors and found it very evocative of the Southwest. *I* think this is more than a two-star book, but when the kids don't bite...
August 27, 2014
This was a fun tall tale. With a stinky, dirty, smelly, grubby, dingy cowboy and a loyal, protective, vigilant but blind dog, you've got a combination for one very funny book. This book has been challenged/banned because of its depiction of near-nudity, but I think it's tastefully and humorously done. There are lots of fun words and great sounds. The text interacts with the illustrations, making the whole book something you just want to keep looking at. The details in the illustrations are great and they really combine with the story to make something bigger than the two separate parts.
September 22, 2007
I LOVE Adam Rex Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich. His illustrations are perfect for this fun story about a cowboy I can completely identify with.
July 2, 2008
Just funny and the illustrations are perfect for this tale.
April 24, 2010
cute story about taking a bath, interesting illlustrations hiding the naked cowboy.
May 8, 2012
A bit long for storytime or real young ones, but still plenty of read aloud fun here and wonderful illustrations.
May 28, 2013
What a fun story! The illustrations work perfectly with the storytelling, and in particular the clever ways of hiding the cowboy as he's bathing and wrestling for his clothes will garner a laugh.
June 14, 2009
Fun, and great, funny illustrations!
November 6, 2023
Reading Challenge: Reading Goal Posts - Author Oeuvre. Goodreads has the author/illustrator credits backwards. Amy Timberlake is the author; Adam Rex is the illustrator. The story was told to Amy Timberlake as true by her father according to her dedication. Takes place in New Mexico. The story of a cowboy who when he takes his annual bath loses his usual scent to the consternation of his dog. An unusual story for children with nudity being discreetly illustrated with objects in the right place at the right time, and critters that have taken up household on the cowboy microscopically pictured. Told very much like a yarn from the open range and the life of a cowboy with Rex's art reviewed in New Mexico as beautifully combining story and landscape and remarkable for his first published work even as it was banned in Texas, all according to online query. Rex is from Tucson, AZ. Amy Timberlake (from Wisconsin/Illinois) is the author of the unique Skunk and Badger series of which I hope there will be more than two books.
November 19, 2018
The Dirty Cowboy is a book about a young cowboy who takes his annual bath with his dog, however, his dog does not recognize his smell after his bath and won't give the cowboy his clothes back. The book was challenged because of the books illustrations of the cowboy taking his bath and remaining naked throughout the story in 2012. The boy's privates are covered in the illustration the entire book by various items like a branch or a bunny. Parents believed that this book would promote viewing nudity/pornography to be okay. This story can be used in many different lessons like character expressiveness and humor. There are many children's book that contain illustrations of kids bottoms like "No, David!". Nothing about this book seems for any reason to be banned and proves the importance of freedom within literature. This books make students laugh and show students that books are not always serious, many books are humorous.
August 30, 2022
This book was funny, if a bit long. A cowboy only takes a bath once a year. He smells, is covered in dirt grime, bugs, and fungus. He takes his horse and his dog on a long journey to find the nearest river in which to bath and instructs his dog to let no one near his clothes. Once done with his bath, the dog no longer recognizes the cowboy and will not let him touch the clothes. They argue, the clothes get destroyed and the cowboy walks home naked. If you have not guessed already, this book is BANNED. It is banned because of a naked cowboy. The reader doesn’t see more than a bare chest and legs. “Inappropriate” body parts are always covered by rocks, animals, or other things. But that was not enough for some parents. They compared this book to a child’s Hustler. That description does not fit at all, but it was still enough to have this book pulled from school districts far and wide.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews