The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Regan, Dian Curtis

Chance

32 pp. | Philomel | May, 2003 | Trade ISBN 0-399-23592-2 $$15.99

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Dee Huxley. Baby Chance doesn't care for Ma's gooky mush, for Pa's guitar playing, or for the dog slobbering on his rattle. "It all made me right cranky. So I left." Living with a variety of critters, he writes home and after extracting a promise for no more gooky mush, he returns in time for his first birthday cake. The droll story is enhanced by Chance's genial cowboy-speak and the chalk-pastel and colored-pencil drawings. A darn good cowboy yarn.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2003