Home on the Range: Cowboy Poetry

by Paul B. Janeczko (Editor), Bernie Fuchs (Illustrator)

Nineteen poems celebrate cowboy life.

Genres: Poetry

40 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1997

About the author

Paul B. Janeczko is a poet and teacher and has edited more than twenty award-winning poetry anthologies for young people, including STONE BENCH IN AN EMPTY PARK, LOOKING FOR YOUR NAME, SEEING THE BLUE BETWEEN, and A POKE IN THE I, which was an American Library Association Notable Book.

Reviews

[Mandy Grathwohl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps it’s because I grew up in a small cowboy town under the shadow of the Sierra Nevadas, but I’ve always had a soft spot for cowboy tales, which is why this title appealed to me. I remember browsing the shelf, and my eye kept wandering back to it. I had to grab it. I had to read it. And I wasn’t let down; the book delivered what it promised, and it brought me back to my own childhood, where all I wanted was to own a horse and herd cattle. Everything was so simple then, and this is the power of poetry, and literature as a whole: to transport you. Sometimes, it takes you exactly where you want to be. Other times, it takes you where you’re afraid to go, which is likely exactly where you *need* to be.

Home on the Range is an anthology that takes you where you want to be, and I think of my young self upon reading it. There are poets for every single taste and interest, and this anthology caters to those horse girls, the cowboy kids, that may not be in the places they want to be right away. So they find literature to take them there.

The joy of this anthology is that it spans the entire age spectrum. The book flap itself states that it appeals to people from ages eight to eighty, and beyond, too, I’m sure. There are solemn and serious poems, but there are also goofy poems, and simple, heartwarming poems, too. This anthology offers a slice of whatever a reader might be looking for. I would recommend it for even the least cowboy-inclined reader, if only so they may experience that world for a moment.