Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

Starred review from November 25, 2013
Isaacs (Swamp Angel) teams with Hawkes (The Wicked Big Toddlah) on this Texas humdinger about a wealthy widow and the men vying for her hand. The tall tale opens with a disclaimer (in Texas, “all exaggeration must be restricted to the first twenty-four hours past sunrise”), and an account of how Widow Jones and her three ladies-in-waiting turn her inherited property, By-Golly Ranch, into a desert paradise. “Soon every unmarried man in Texas hoped to marry Tulip Jones—and in 1870, every man in Texas was unmarried.” Widow Jones hires a humble baker, Charlie Doughpuncher, to help her feed the single cowboys who drop by. In pencil-and-acrylic caricatures, Hawkes pictures an unattractive crew of bachelor yokels (leaving the baker as the widow’s obvious choice). Widow Jones’s least appealing beaus are the most persistent: fiendish Sheriff Arroyo, with a live rattlesnake on his hat, and his snaggle-toothed brother Spit. Isaacs’s ability to spin a hyperbolic yarn is as sharp as ever as she chronicles the widow’s schemes to help the lonelyhearts, evade the Arroyo brothers, and round up a criminal gang to boot. Ages 5–9.

Starred review from December 15, 2013
There's nothing like the unexpected arrival of a millionaire widow to spur a stampede of Texas cowboys. In this terrific tall tale from the author of Swamp Angel (1994) and Dust Devil (2010), it looks like just about everyone is the marrying kind when a rich Englishwoman shows up: "Soon every unmarried man in Texas hoped to marry Tulip Jones--and in 1870, every man in Texas was unmarried." One thousand suitors mean thousands of teatime pastries to fix, so Tulip hires Charlie Doughpuncher to help out. Day and night, the kind baker is there to comfort (and feed scones to) her suitored-out self. Desperate for some peace, Tulip finally concocts several challenges to clear out the gold-digging cowboys, from reversing the flow of the Rio Grande to collecting a pail of stars. But when her plan works, she's all alone. Or is she? Lively storytelling in colorful, drawn-out sentences, Texas-style, makes for a splendid--albeit lengthy--read-aloud. Hawkes' extra-charming soft-focus acrylic-and-colored-pencil artwork on textured paper suits the cactus-filled desert landscape to a T-for-Texas, and the caricatured faces of the snaggletoothed, bewhiskered, beyond-scruffy suitors are downright hilarious. True love is no tall tale in this delightfully overblown story of a plucky widow, a herd of greedy cowboys and a Texas summer so hot the chickens lay hard-boiled eggs. (Picture book. 5-8)

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Starred review from January 1, 2014

Gr 1-4-Isaacs excels at writing tall tales, and readers will not be disappointed by her newest yarn. In 1870, the widow Tulip Jones inherits millions of dollars and a ranch, so she moves from England to By-Golly Gully. She quickly learns that everything is bigger in Texas, including her garden vegetables and her beloved pet tortoises. But her blissful peace is disrupted when word gets around about her rich and unmarried status. Hilarity ensues as the widow comes up with a variety of ways to get rid of the 1000 suitors who line up at her door. Exaggeration is the name of the game from text to illustrations. The story is told in a linear, yet compelling way, and the delightful tongue-twisting narration uses a variety of fun and folksy phrases. Isaacs takes her time, humorously setting the scene through the first few pages, which prepares readers to expect larger-than-life problems and solutions. The characters are exaggerated as well, from the odious suitors to the spunky and independent widow Jones, who takes a proactive approach to solving her problems. Hawkes's painterly illustrations, rendered with acrylic and pencil, feature vast blue skies, fluffy white clouds, and sun-drenched landscapes that firmly establish the setting. These exaggerated visuals match the humorous tone set by the text. At its best when read aloud, this story will also appeal to elementary school kids who will be inspired to create their own tales with over-the-top characters.-Amy Seto Musser, Denver Public Library

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2014
Grades K-3 English widow Tulip Jones is off to America, having inherited $35 million and an entire ranch in Texas, with a lot of tea, her three ranch hands (n'e house servants), and 12 pet tortoises in tow. With pluck and verve, they establish themselves in the Texas heat but soon find their efforts interrupted by more than 1000 marriageable fortune hunters. Widow Jones has to hire her own baker, one Charlie Doughpuncher, just to feed them all. At her wits end, she hatches a few impossible contests, promising to marry the winner. Meanwhile, the ranch hands solicit 1000 brides from across the country. And voila, dastards are caught, vows exchanged, and everyone, even the ranch hands, departs. Except Charlie, of course, who has a proposal of his own. Isaacs' tall-tale plotting and over-the-top language are matched by Hawkes' bright, comic paintings, brimming with spirit and detail. An opening endpaper signpost warns against exaggeration in Texas, promising just the outsize adventure that Isaacs and Hawkes deliver.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2014
The Widow Jones inherits thirty-five million dollars and a ranch in By Golly Gully, Texas. Little does she know that everything grows bigger in Texas, including tortoises, potatoes that "took only seven of them to make a dozen," and a "watermelon [that] fed everyone on the ranch for a month." Colored-pencil and acrylic illustrations in sunbaked tones complement this engaging tall tale's hyperbole.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2014
Texas boasts as many tall tales as there are fleas on a hound dog, but listeners will have to venture far afield to find one more engaging than Isaacs's latest. The newly widowed Tulip Jones inherits thirty-five million dollars and a ranch in By-Golly Gully, Texas. With her twelve pet tortoises and three (lady) ranch hands, she sets up farming. Little does she know that everything grows bigger in Texas, including tortoises, potatoes that "took only seven of them to make a dozen," and a "single watermelon [that] fed everyone on the ranch for a month." The colored-pencil and acrylic illustrations in sunbaked Texas tones complement Isaacs's hyperbole. Tulip changes her demure dress for flattering Western wear, including a rose-topped Stetson, and gallops her now-saddled tortoises across the prairie; the ranch hands climb ladders to saw off huge tomatoes. But a passel of trouble looms. Every single man in Texas, which in 1870 meant every man in Texas, wants her money, and they all descend on the ranch seeking her hand in marriage. The Widow Jones must get rid of these odious gold diggers. She devises three trials for the suitors; meanwhile, the ranch hands, also hoping to distract the men, invite all unmarried women to come get hitched. These two madcap story lines converge, but not before listeners have plenty of opportunities to join in with choruses of "meanwhile" and curses of "Riprocious!" betty carter

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)