Maverick Books: Hank the Cowdog

Soooooo....... apparently I have been living under a rock for a while, or maybe it is because I live in NJ, the most populated State in the US and live no where near a ranch or cowboys or, maybe it is because I have three little girls, but I had NO IDEA there was any such thing as "Hank The Cowdog." If you are like me and find yourself saying- "yes I live under a rock too, what is Hank The Cowdog?" please read on.......

Maverick Books, Inc. Publishes the Hank The Cowdog books (54 so far: one paperback book costs $4.24) and products which include audio Cd's (on sale now for $3.00 each), a TORNADO board game (price $12.99 on the website) a spin off of one of the books- ha ha- no pun intended- and several other products. You can check out the website at www.hankthecowdog.com and view for yourself the full product line.

I was sent three products from Maverick Books and the Hank the Cowdog product line to review. The first product I began reviewing was the book (#8 in the series) The Case of The One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse. I read to my children every day- I am an avid reader and my children are beginning to enjoy chapter books, so this was something that I looked forward to reading out loud to them. We started reading the first few chapters and my girls enjoyed the story. We had taken a long car ride one day, so I took with me a second product that I was sent to review; "Tales and Tunes from Hank the Cowdog". The girls found the songs and stories on the CD funny. and they really enjoyed listening to the characters' voices especially since we had been reading about Hank and his buddies on the ranch for the past several nights. There is one story on the Cd which is from the book we were reading. The girls listened to the story of the "Poisoned Bacon Grease" in the car. That night, we were up to the same chapter in the book. I read it to them and they were giggling the whole time. The story was so much more significant to them once they heard the Cd and were able imagine all the characters speaking the way they did on the Cd.
If you are new to the Hank The Cowdog product line- buy the Cd's along with the books to really grab your children.

Hank is a lovable character but totally clueless as the "self appointed Head of Ranch Security" along with his Deputy Drover. Together the duo talks in circles and usually end up confused and completely off topic! The other characters in the story add to the fun and chaos. As a mom of four children I have a special place in my heart for "Sally May" the mom. The story is fun reading for the whole family. Normally I would have passed right over this type of product line because I have three little girly girls and really didn't expect them to embrace Hank the way they did.

The final product that I was sent to review was the TORNADO board game. The game was enjoyable for all of us, and I think our favorite product. We love playing board games at Camp Corbett! Maverick books describes the TORNADO game very well so I am going to quote them "Hanks TORNADO game is a wild, fast paced race and chase game. Each person gets a Hank, Drover, and Junior the buzzard game piece, and it's a race to see who can get their pieces around the board and and safe to their home spaces first. There is a cassette tape with 30 minutes of excerpts from hanks 25th story, "The Case of the Swirling Killer Tornado." the excerpts tell a story that fits with the game."
My 7 & 5 year old picked up on the games rules after only one game. They can play it with each other and not have any problem, the rules are easy to understand. I like the fact that the game does not take too long to play so we are able to play it in the evening to wind down and I don't have to worry that it can take all night. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the 30 minute tape that comes with the game was hard for us to hear. The sound quality was not that great. That being said, I haven't used my tape player in about 5 years so, it may have been a malfunction on my part. We really have been playing the TORNADO game approximately three times per week since we got it and it is very portable; when it folds up the game board becomes a container for all the pieces.

Overall the Hank the Cowdog products are clean wholesome fun for the entire family. I can't wait for my little boy (who is one) to get a bit older, I see some Hank adventures in his future!
Happy Trails friends............