A funny book! Imagine if Deputy Barney Fife were a hound dog and you have this book! ( )

Hank the Cowdog books were my favorites as a kid, and my dad read them aloud to me and my brother every night for a long time. I followed along and learned to read over his shoulder. The first long-form book I read on my own was a Hank the Cowdog book. This series will always be special to me :)

(Also, my brother and I named our first cats after the people in the books, Sally May and Loper.) ( )

One of my favorite series I have ever read. I read it when I was in elementary school and it make reading very enjoyable ( )

This book is a great book to have in a classroom library. It is loved by boys and girls. It is about the adventures of a dog named Hank. This book is another great way to get children engaged and wanting to read. I used to love reading this book as a child. I definitely enjoyed the nostalgia of rereading it. Overall, these a re really good books for early readers starting at the end of first grade. ( )

How have I missed this cute series until now? Everyone in the Texas Panhandle seems to know these books, and now I know why. The world that Hank lives in is the ranch life in the Texas Panhandle.

Somehow Hank keeps the Western "voice" while staying true to being a dog. There's a mystery to be solved and a ranch to be kept safe. There is a lot of humor amidst life lessons. I found this quotation to be one of those:

You can’t be safe and cautious all the time. If you’re too timid in this life, you’ll miss out on all the fun and adventure. You’ll just stay home and snap at the flies, and when you get to be an old dog, you’ll look back on your life and think, “All these years I’ve been on this earth, and I’ve never done anything but snap at flies.” And you'll regret that, when the opportunity came up, you didn't sneak a ride into town.

It is well worth the reading by adults who like young adult fiction. It can be shared with middle school aged children on up. I will slowly be adding the entire series of 70+ books. ( )

Fun read for the kids, 4-6. ( )

The popular Hank the Cowdog series is based on the humorous antics of the canine Head of Ranch Security. In this first book, Hank and his little buddy, Drover, set out to solve a series of baffling murders on the ranch. Is Hank a suspect? An Outlaw? Can he clear his good name?

In this beloved children’s book character, Hank the Cowdog, head of ranch security, must investigate the murder of the chickens in which he is the #1 suspect!.

Hank is the Head of Ranch Security. He has been framed for the murder of a chicken. Find out from this humorous story whether or not he is innocent or guilty.

This book is about a dog named Hank who gets accused of a murder. Because of this, Hank decided to resign his position as Head of Ranch Security and joins the outlaw coyotes. To prove himself, Hank had to join in on the raid for the ranch. They order him to kill Drover. However, Hank realizes what he's about to do isn't right so he turns on the coyotes and almost gets killed by Scraunch. Thankfully he gets saved by High Loper and Hank goes back to being Head of Ranch Security. I could use this book to show students how being around the wrong group of people can effect you negatively. Also, how lying will not get you where you want to be in the end and it's better to be straight forward and honest. ( )

I grabbed this book from my brother's room the other day and started reading it because these books played such a huge role in my childhood. Hank is a farm dog who goes through one too many traumatic situations. When you are young these are very interesting! I recommend Hank to any child in the elementary level. ( )

This is great book to get reluctant but competent readers to enjoy reading. Hank the Cowdog books are light and funny. Once kids read one of the books in this series, they are hooked. ( )

Hank the Cowdog makes me laugh aloud. I love his inflated opinions and the way they get exposed. I love the old-time songs such as 'I Dream of Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair,' 'Red River Valley,' "Turkey in the Straw,' 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home,' 'The William Tell Overture/Lone Ranger theme,' and Beethoven's Fifth'used as background music for just the right scenes. The title of Pete the Barncat's song is a parody of 'Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys,' which you hear here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RePtDvh4Yq4 (Sadly, we don't get to hear Pete's lyrics.)

Poor Hank gives in to one of his baser instincts and to his horror, finds himself falsely accused of a much bigger crime. When he runs away and meets up with the local coyotes, well -- let's just say that the rest of the book becomes a delightful parody of old Westerns, including parodying their ignorant and idiotic portrayal of Native Americans.

Hank mentions two famous fictional dogs: Lassie and Rin Tin Tin, who had their own TV shows. Lassie also appeared in movies.

Hank's opinion of himself is very apparent in his song, 'How Do I Do It?'. Two recurring characters, Rip and Snort, sing 'Me Just a Worthless Coyote'. We'll also meet two more recurring characters, the buzzards Wallace and Junior.

[Added after a later hearing] In this adventure, Hank implies that he was already at the ranch when Drover, the chicken-hearted little mutt, came. However, as we learn in book 50, The Homeless Pooch, Drover already belonged to the Lopers when Slim Chance brought puppy Hank to the ranch. Given Hank's ego and his many demonstrations of altering his memory in his favor, I think we may assume this is another example. Sure, Drover mentions looking up to Hank since he was a pup, but how old was he when Hank came?

You can bet that I'm going to check out the next book in the series! ( )

Hank takes his job as cowdog very seriously, so when someone starts killing chickens on the farm, he does his best to get to the bottom of things. But one silly mistake leads to Hank's departure from the farm. Can this rough, tough cowdog make it on his own? And can the farm make it without him?

Ehhh... Hank's got a funny voice and he's totally full of himself, even while making ridiculous mistakes. Kids will definitely find it funny, but it wore on me after awhile. The scenes with the tribe of "savage" coyotes were also of concern to me. There's an obvious (to me) comparison to Native Americans, although kids may not necessarily notice or care. (Check out Debbie Reese's post for more on this: http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2009/07/betsy-mcentarff... )

Personally I'd hesitate to recommend this series because I found the coyote characters to be pretty offensive, but it's a bestselling series and it might fit the bill for kids who are looking for some Western humor. ( )

Summary - This is a story about a cowdog named Hank. His main job was the Head of Ranch Security. All Hank tried to do was work very hard and to do his job the best he could. The proble in the story was there had been a murder on the ranch. Hank's job was to investigate the murder and in doing so became the number one suspect. There's only one thing Hank felt like he could do, head for the hills to become an outlaw. It wasn't very long when a group of coyotes wanted to teach him their way of life. That seemed to be ok with Hank because he knew he could not beat them. It became a problem when the coyotes revealed their plan to raid the ranch. Hank did not know that their plan included killing him too. During the confrontation, Loper the cowboy, started shooting to scare the coyotes away. Loper knew the coyotes were trying to get in the chickenhouse. Another murder was about to take place. Then Loper saw Hank and thought he had come back home and saved the ranch. From then on Hank was a hero and had his old job back as Head of Ranch Security.

Critique - I enjoyed reading this book. I am not use to reading middle age books. The chapters were not too long and they kept you wondering what was going to happen next. There were pictures throughout the book with detailed illustrations. It was just enough pictures to satisfy my imagination of what was going to happen in the next chapter. Students that live in the country could relate to the text better than students that are never around that type of environment. This was a good book and I would enjoy reading other pieces of this series.

Hank is a wonderful voice in middle-school adventure series reading. Opinionated, bossy, not very bright, Hank brings giggles from kids and adults alike. My middle-school boys especially liked these books, as Hank lives in an environment they understand, and there aren't any girls around - except maybe a collie on the next ranch. This series is also wonderful as a read-aloud. ( )

I am an adult and STILL love this series! I have every book so far. This particular book "The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog" is one of the best in the series. Hank is an ranch dog who tries his hardest to protect "his ranch" from evil things that go bump in the night (and sometimes the day!). He usually screws up and gets yelled at, so THIS time he decides to....join the wild coyotes. He is accepted but first he must help in a secret plan to invade the ranch that he used to call home. Hank must make a choice....be free with the coyotes or protect the ones he was so loyal to? Very very good series, and it's funny too! All the books even have CD's so you can listen to them while driving in the car or whatever. And for music lovers, there's at least 3-5 songs per book. ( )

Hank the Cowdog, "Head of Ranch Security" at a spread in Texas, is most adept at getting himself into a pickle. Charming in his own way but with elevated self-esteem and low-level intelligence, Hank and his tales are hilarious: He gets tangled up with a porcupine and a skunk (among other tales), as well as almost going over to the coyotes. John R. Erickson's expressive, versatile, and energetic performance brings his own creation to life perfectly

Book 1 Hank the cow dog is the head of ranch security ( )