I know what you’re thinking… wha? Okay, well, that’s what I was thinking when I opened the package and pulled out a book, cd and travel game. To my amazement, many of my homeschool blogger friends knew who Hank, the Cowdog was. Apparently, I’ve been googling under a rock, because I had no clue.
Turns out, Hank is a goofy mutt who’s appointed himself “Head of Ranch Security” on the family farm. He has an “assistant” named Drover who proves to have very little between his flappy ears.
Hank is the main character in a series of stories by John Erikson. These stories are available in easy reader books and audio CD’s. A number of Hank accessories such as puppets, games, stuffed animals and t-shirts are available as well.
We received 3 Hank items: an easy reader book, a cd with excerpts and songs from the stories and a travel-size game based on The Case of the Swirling Killer Tornado.
The kids really enjoy playing the game. The basics of play are: each player has 3 characters to move around the board and make it “home”. Opposing characters can send you back to your starting point and ‘tornados’ along the way can send you ahead or back. The game board is very portable, folding up and storing the pieces inside itself. No pieces will slide off the surface in the car either. Each space is fitted with a ‘cup’ the characters rest in.
I do wish the board were a little bigger. When four players have all their characters on the board it gets a little tight. The game play is sometimes long because everyone’s characters keep getting sent back to the start. Our spinner seemed to really like the number 5! hehe We ended up using a die we had rather than the spinner. Of course this also fits inside when all closed up! All the kids from age 10 down to age 4 could play this game and really have a good time.
The book we received was #8 in the series, The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse. (yes, that’s what I said… stud horse) Our audio CD contained the song from this book too. The CD is titled, Tales and Tunes from Hank the Cowdog, and contains excerpts from 10 of the books plus 9 songs. The stories are presented in old-time radio style, complete with sound effects and musical backgrounds. We had a blast listening to Mr. Erikson read his stories with unique, memorable voices for each of the characters. Some of the songs are so funny they’ll have you in tears!
Listening to the CD before reading the book was a really good idea. As the story is read, you can imagine the voices of each character in your head. It really made the book come to life.
These Hank tales are full of adventure, life lessons and humor. I only have one word of caution to offer: the stories do tend to you words like stupid, idiot and dummy – words that we are not allowed to use in our house. At one point in the story a defiant little boy calls his mother a dummy. For our family, Hank may not be a perfect fit. We terribly enjoyed the stories and laughed through most all the material. But I do not like having to remind my kids that disrespect of others is not a laughing matter. Now this may be no big deal for you – and if it’s not, go buy some Hank the Cowdog! If it is a big deal, remember that you can also alter the way you read these stories allowed or use them as teaching moments, reminding your family why you choose not to use this type of language.
We will continue to listen to our Hank CD and play our travel game over and over. All in all, we have enjoyed Hank the Cowdog and his wild adventures.
Sara O’