Hank the Cowdog - Maverick Books

Hank the Cowdog - The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse is written by John R. Erickson and put out by Maverick Books. Mr. Erickson is a former cowboy and ranch manager from Texas and Oklahoma. Hank "the star of the show" in these books and his faithful sidekick Drover are actual dogs that Mr. Erickson worked with on the ranch.

Hank is always getting himself into interesting circumstances as you can see from the titles of the books in the series. There are 54 books available at $4.24 for a paperback. Each book also has a cassette or CD ($14.99 & $17.99).

In The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse, Hank the Cowdog "Head of Ranch Security" gets himself into all kinds of circumstances. He tries to get a good breakfast like any decent dog who has the important job of being head of ranch security and it just seems to get him trouble. Eventually, he has to face Tuerto the Killer Stud Horse and bravely protect his girls Ashley and Amy.

Here is an excerpt from The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse that shows how Hank's mind works (he really likes fatty ends of bacon):

"...it suddenly occurred to me that that plate was probably getting pretty heavy. I mean, you don't think about fatty ends of bacon weighing very much but you take enough of them and put them together and you'll come up with a whole entire hog that might weigh, oh, three-four hundred pounds. (That's where bacon comes from, don't you know. Hogs. Big hogs.)"


This series of books also comes with tons of other great items to enhance the ranch experience with Hank. You can get Hank or Drover puppets or plushes, Hank sweatshirts and T-shirts, a Hank poster, Hanks music, a backpack, playing cards and a great board game called Tornado.


We had a great time with Tornado! This game's "bored" is a sturdy plastic box that folds up with all of the pieces inside. It's great for travel which is exactly what we did with it! We recently took Tornado on a trip and it worked out great. We crossed two states and were away for a week without loosing a single piece!


Each person gets a Hank, Drover and a Junior the Buzzard piece. The idea of the game is to get each of your pieces from the start to your finishing area. (It's kind of played like Sorry.) The game has a spinner in the middle that is a tornado and just because someone is ahead doesn't mean he won't get knocked back by another player or a tornado. It's a great game for teaching kids that things aren't always fair and you never know what is going to happen!


Tales and Tunes from Hank (only $3.00) is a CD that includes story excerpts from 10 different Hank books and also includes 9 original songs. Two of the songs on the CD are in the book The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse. That just helps to bring Hank, Drover and the other characters to life. They are quite funny and titles like "It's Not Smart to Show Your Hiney to a Bear" will keep your children laughing.


One of the things that I was disappointed with in the story and CD was the use of language that we don't allow in our home. (example: heck, gosh, darn, shut up, stupid idiot) I know that we are on the conservative side of what words we allow. Not all people are as careful as we are so this may not make a difference to you but I wanted to let my readers know.


Maverick Books provides great laughs and plenty of fun all centered around Hank the Cowdog. I love the way all of his products add to the experience of reading about Hank's amusing and adventurous life. There is even a newsletter called "The Hank Times" that has more stories and puzzles to add to the fun.


Hank's Ranch!