Bubba The Cowboy Prince: A Fractured Texas Tale

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ketteman, Helen. 1997. BUBBA THE COWBOY PRINCE. by James Warhola. New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN 0590255061

2. PLOT SUMMARY
BUBBA THE COWBOY PRINCE is a fractured Texas tale that is based on the classic Cinderella story. Bubba is a rancher who lives with his evil Stepdaddy and two brothers, Dwayne and Milton on a Texas farm. Each day Bubba works from sunup to sundown while his two brother watch on demanding him to do all the chores around the farm but he never complains. One day a beautiful woman named Miz Lurleen who lives down the road decides that she is going to throw a ball in order to find her a husband. As the day approaches for the ball, Bubba helps his two brothers get ready for the ball leaving him no time to get ready himself. Once his family leaves Bubba decides to go on a ride to clear his mind but what he finds is a fairy God Cow coming to save him. When he arrives at the ball Miz Lurleen finds her a cowboy prince that she has been looking for in Bubba.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Helen Ketteman story of BUBBA THE COWBOY PRINCE is a great change to the traditional Cinderella story that also brings the larger than life Texas culture to the story. Her writing is very simple yet engaging that makes you want to read more. I also enjoyed the vocabulary she used to make the story more realistic within the Texas culture: cowpatties, steer, stockyards, Stetson hat, etc. The story is also written in a way that both girls and boys would like this book and relate to characters in the story. It is also nice to see a boy as the main character that is not prince charming or coming to save a troubled girl.

The illustrations by James Warhola are outstanding and really make this story come to life. The drawings are extremely detailed and he uses lots of bright colors within each page. The animals on each page really represent the other main characters in this story. Also, if you look closely you will see the fairly God Cow lurking on all the pages, sometimes in the barn, over Miz Lurleen fire place and behind the cactus. The illustrations are just wonderful!

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
*Children’s Literature- “The paintings are brightly colored and fanciful, with wonderful perplexed expressions on the rest of the cattle when the fairy godcow shows up. Great fun and a wonderful twist on the Cinderella story.”
*Publisher’s Weekly- “Just the ticket for buckaroos lookin’fer a good read.”
*School Library Journal- “This is a fun-filled story….”

5. CONNECTIONS
*Have students complete a story map of the characters, setting, problem and solution for the story.
*Read other versions of the Cinderella story with the students and compare and contrast the different version.
-Sanderson, Ruth. CINDERELLA. ISBN 0316779652
-Louie, Ai-Ling. YEH-SHEN: A CINDERELLA STORY FROM CHINA.
by Ed Young. ISBN 039920900