Border Crossing , on the road from Peking to Paris

by Rosie Thomas, Philip Bowen (Illustrator)

Cowgirl Rosie takes her five baby bison everywhere. But one day, on the way to visit the sheriff, every one of them - Bigwig, Bonnie, Beefy, Butch, and even little Baby B - disappears! Will Cowgirl Rosie and Sheriff Joe be able to outsmart sneaky Snakey Jake and get her baby bison back?

Author Biography: Stephen Gulbis is a freelance illustrator who studied graphic design at Bath Academy of Art in England. He lives in Banbury, England, with his wife and their two daughters, Laura and Rosie. This is his first picture book.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

Hardcover

First published April 1, 2001

About the author

Janey King, née Morris was born on 1947 in Denbigh, Wales, and also grew up in North Wales. She read English at Oxford, and after a spell in journalism and publishing began writing fiction after the birth of her first child. Published since 1982 as Rosie Thomas, she has written fourteen best-selling novels, deal with the common themes of love and loss. She is one of only a few authors to have won twice the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association, in 1985 with Sunrise, and in 2007 with Iris and Ruby.

Janey is an adventurer and once she was established as a writer and her children were grown, she discovered a love of travelling and mountaineering. She has climbed in the Alps and the Himalayas, competed in the Peking to Paris car rally, spent time on a tiny Bulgarian research station in Antarctica and travelled the silk road through Asia. She currently lives in London.

Reviews

[Ramey Bourlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary:
Cowgirl Rosie cares for her 5 baby bison on her ranch in the desert. One day Rosie decided she was going to walk to town with her baby bison because she had to talk to the sheriff. As they were walking to town all in a line the bison started to disappear one by one. The sheriff and Rosie ultimately discover that Snakey Jake stole all the baby bison. He tries to run away but Rosie lassos him and then he goes to jail. As a reward, the sheriff gives Rosie a carriage for all her bison so they will not get lost again.

Themes:
animals, love, right versus wrong

Personal Response:
Much of my family is from the west and so every time they saw a book about a cowgirl they automatically would think of me and then give it to me. Out of all the cowgirl books I had, this one was by far my favorite. I really related to this book because I had the same caring/nurturing as a child. I always cared for every one of my stuffed animals and would be so distraught when I lost one, very similar to how Rosie reacted when she lost her bison.

Recommendation:
I would recommend this book to kindergarten- 3rd graders. This book can help teach kids about responsibility and keeping up with your things and also learning the difference between right and wrong.

[Adrianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the message in this story and the constant alliteration. In this picture book, Cowgirl Rosie has five black baby bison. One day, as Cowgirl Rosie walks to visit Sheriff Joe, her five baby bison disappear. With the help of Sheriff Joe, Cowgirl Rosie discovers that Snakey Jake now owns five white baby bison. Cowgirl Rosie's tears reveal that the five bison are in fact hers and they were covered with flour. The story ends with Cowgirl Rosie walking her five bison in their brand-new buggy. This is a wonderful story which discusses the love a person has for their animals. Throughout the story, Stephen Gulbis incorporated Western jargon such as nary. Stephen Gulbis wrote, "By the time Cowgirl Rosie rounded them up at the end of each day, she was plumb worn out." The illustrations did a fantastic job of depicting a desert landscape which included cacti and flat terrain. I highly recommend this picture book to children and their parents.

[Sierra Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

My girls have loved this book and we've read it several times from our local library. The story is cute and clever with a fun, happy ending.

[Susanna Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cowgirl Rosie is a great a book to read for your little ones! The illustrations are an excellent depiction of what the story is telling, while still holding the children's attention. The message in this book is clear for young readers to grasp, and will leave them walking away wanting to read the book again. Great story about the wild west, and seeing just what little Rosie can do to get her babies back! I would recommend this book to anyone with a child.

[James Schneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just read this with my 5 year old. It was a good opportunity for some fun voice work, plenty of broad alliteration, but overall it was a bit brief and unmemorable. A good library choice.

[Becki McBride · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can see how this might have originated as a bedtime story by the author to his daughter Rosie. My younger kids, ages 5 and 3, really enjoy the book. Fun story to read aloud.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute. Rose loved listening to me read it in a silly southern accent.

[Bandhura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is not so interesting, but it is a mystery where the bisons go.