Book Review: Hank the Cowdog, #39 of 81

Hank the Cowdog: The Secret Laundry Monster Files (Puffin Books, 2011, 128pp PB, 8-11 years, grades 2-3) Number 39 of at least 81 titles in the series. Review by Skye Anderson.

Verbal SlapStick for Kids!

Hot on the heels of other Hank the Cowdog books reviewed here which are very very good (It's a Dog's Life

and The Fling)

comes the 39th in a series of at least 81 (so far) - The Secret Laundry Monster Files.

Our "hero," Hank the big dog, is Head of Ranch Security - we would love to listen to this book for its circuitous conversations that go nowhere but fun. Hank's job is protecting the ranch from villains, monsters, and destructive little raccoons (p. 26).

Our Hank is a lovable old hank of a dog ("Hankie" to Pete the barn cat though) who gets mixed up (even saying one sentence) but somehow always gets his man - eventually. 

Deputy Drover and Plenty of Dialogue When Confusion Reigns

If Hank listens with ear number one then, if necessary, with ear number two, then on the other hand we have Deputy Drover, a nondescript deputy, who helps the conversations digress and digress until they morph into new words that we can only guess at the meanings of. And the conversation makes everything as clear as mud: "At the end of every yowl is a yowling cat. To dogs with very sensitive ears, it's as easy as following a piece of string." (p, 15) At the end of every yowl is a yowling cat." (p, 15)

Cats, The Usual Suspects

And raccoons, and rat reports, and forbidden laundry hanging in the forbidden laundry yard (Sally May's), and strange noises in the night that our heroes want to wait until daylight to sniff out their IDs.

The Plot Thickens and Goes Round and Round

The two dogs bark at the Laundry Monster, waking up Loper, then eat horse feed by mistake - and a lot of it which is a faux pas. 

The Secret Laundry Monster Files contains a complex story line with a canine love interest, a pretty good cowboy song, and a who-dun-it (who ate the horse feed).