Friday, March 27, 2009

"Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express" - Folktale


Debbie Dadey's "Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express" brings to life the folktale of the legendary character, Buffalo Bill. The reader is first introduced to the story with a sketch of a map depicting the route of the pony express from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California. This is important for the reader because they are able to have a clear image of the route that Billy Cody, Buffalo Bill, rode for his job with the Pony Express. They book explains that the only problem with Billy working for the Pony Express is that he is only fourteen years old. Throughout the book the reader is able to take the journey with Billy and learn more about the struggles and differnt situations that he encoutered over his two-thousand-mile route acrosss the country. While riding across the country Billy encounters three Paiutes and has to out run them inorder to stay alive. The author does an amazing job with describing each situation throughout his journey. By being so discriptive, the reader is able to visualize the story more and feel more apart of it. Billy's captain, Captain Slade, gives him a hard time for the majority of the story. Captain Slade complains about everything that Billy does, saying that he is unexperienced and does not know how to do anyting. I think that the younger readers can associate with this and gain a better understanding of how to deal with others when they look down on you because of your age. I would reccomend this chapter book to students that were on a third grade reading level and any levels above that.

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