I was about to rate this book a one star. Indeed, I thought it was terrible. The illustrations look like scribbles. Indeed, you could feel like a child had scribbled through a library book.

But then I got to the end. After discovering that it's the story of a little boy coloring in his cowboy coloring book......all of it made sense. Somewhat. I still don't appreciate it. ( )

Van Allsburg always does a great job of surprising the reader... Halfway through this book I thought someone got a hold of it and scribbled crayons all throughout it. We find out at the end that this story is being told through the perspective of a young child with his coloring book. Van Allsburg does a great job at keeping his readers entertained as you never know what you may expect from him in each of his books. ( )

When the sky above the ordinary town of Riverbend is filled with an extraordinary light that temporarily freezes everything it touches and covers the town in greasy slime, Sheriff Ned Hardy sets off to find the source of Riverbend’s turmoil. ( )

When chaos strikes a quiet town, the sheriff goes on an adventure to find out the cause. A fun book explained perfectly in the end. With the hints throughout both the illustration and text, it was still a surprise at the end. ( )

This is great story in a story to read to kids. I would use this book to introduce the wild west period in American History to kids. ( )