Rootin' Tootin' Cow Dog #8

Part of Magic Bone

Illustrated by Sebastien Braun
Ebook (EPUB)
On sale Jun 30, 2015 | 128 Pages | 9780698412088
Age 6-8 years | Grades 1-3
Reading Level: Lexile 560L
Yeehaw, Sparky is off to the Texas rodeo to find himself a job! There he eats delicious-smelling BBQ, watches mutton chasing and barrel racing, and even helps a new friend become a rodeo dog. But as Sparky heads home, he still doesnt have a job himself. What's this dog to do?

CHAPTER 1

“Get off me!” Samson grumbles angrily. “It’s not my job to give rides!”

Samson is the old mixed-breed who lives next door to me. I’ve never heard him so upset. I wonder what’s going on.

I hurry over to my fence and peek at him through the holes. Samson’s two-leg is sitting in a chair. There’s a mini two-leg sitting on
Samson’s back.

The mini two-leg is smiling, which is something both two-legs and dogs do when they are happy.

But Samson isn’t smiling. And he isn’t happy.

“I said, get off!” Samson barks. He kicks his back legs in the air.

Wham! The mini two-leg falls off his back.

Whaaa! The mini two-leg’s not smiling anymore. She’s screaming. Whaaa!

Samson’s two-leg starts shouting, too. I don’t understand a lot of two-leg words. But I do understand “bad dog.” And I know that means Samson is in trouble.

Samson’s two-leg carries the mini two-leg into the house and closes the door, leaving Samson outside alone.

“I can’t believe my two-leg yelled at me,” Samson grumbles.

“Two-legs do that a lot,” says Frankie, the German shepherd who lives on the other side of my house.

I guess Frankie was watching from behind his fence, too.

“Ever since that mini two-leg came to visit, she’s been crawling on my back,” Samson explains. “It was making me nuts. So I threw her off.”

“Makes sense to me,” Frankie says.

“It’s not my job to carry a little two-leg around,” Samson continues. “I’m a dog, not a horse.”

“Right,” I say. “I’ve never met a dog who had a job giving rides to two-legs.”

Frankie laughs. “It’s not like you’ve met that many dogs, Sparky,” he says. “You only hang out with Samson and me.”

© Marcy Feld Photography
Nancy Krulik is the author of more than 200 books for children and young adults, including three New York Times bestsellers. She is best known, however, for being the author and creator of the Katie Kazoo Switcheroo, George Brown Class Clown, How I Survived Middle School and Magic Bone book series. Nancy lives in Manhattan with her husband, composer Daniel Burwasser. When she’s not writing, Nancy can be found reading, going to concerts, traveling or running around Central Park with her Llasa Apso rescue-pup, Scooby. View titles by Nancy Krulik

About

Yeehaw, Sparky is off to the Texas rodeo to find himself a job! There he eats delicious-smelling BBQ, watches mutton chasing and barrel racing, and even helps a new friend become a rodeo dog. But as Sparky heads home, he still doesnt have a job himself. What's this dog to do?

Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

“Get off me!” Samson grumbles angrily. “It’s not my job to give rides!”

Samson is the old mixed-breed who lives next door to me. I’ve never heard him so upset. I wonder what’s going on.

I hurry over to my fence and peek at him through the holes. Samson’s two-leg is sitting in a chair. There’s a mini two-leg sitting on
Samson’s back.

The mini two-leg is smiling, which is something both two-legs and dogs do when they are happy.

But Samson isn’t smiling. And he isn’t happy.

“I said, get off!” Samson barks. He kicks his back legs in the air.

Wham! The mini two-leg falls off his back.

Whaaa! The mini two-leg’s not smiling anymore. She’s screaming. Whaaa!

Samson’s two-leg starts shouting, too. I don’t understand a lot of two-leg words. But I do understand “bad dog.” And I know that means Samson is in trouble.

Samson’s two-leg carries the mini two-leg into the house and closes the door, leaving Samson outside alone.

“I can’t believe my two-leg yelled at me,” Samson grumbles.

“Two-legs do that a lot,” says Frankie, the German shepherd who lives on the other side of my house.

I guess Frankie was watching from behind his fence, too.

“Ever since that mini two-leg came to visit, she’s been crawling on my back,” Samson explains. “It was making me nuts. So I threw her off.”

“Makes sense to me,” Frankie says.

“It’s not my job to carry a little two-leg around,” Samson continues. “I’m a dog, not a horse.”

“Right,” I say. “I’ve never met a dog who had a job giving rides to two-legs.”

Frankie laughs. “It’s not like you’ve met that many dogs, Sparky,” he says. “You only hang out with Samson and me.”

Author

© Marcy Feld Photography
Nancy Krulik is the author of more than 200 books for children and young adults, including three New York Times bestsellers. She is best known, however, for being the author and creator of the Katie Kazoo Switcheroo, George Brown Class Clown, How I Survived Middle School and Magic Bone book series. Nancy lives in Manhattan with her husband, composer Daniel Burwasser. When she’s not writing, Nancy can be found reading, going to concerts, traveling or running around Central Park with her Llasa Apso rescue-pup, Scooby. View titles by Nancy Krulik