Hank the Cowdog – The Curse of the Incredible Priceless Corncob

John R Erickson's The Curse of the Incredible Priceless Corncob is a ranch comedy for 8 year olds told by Hank the Cowdog, who is quite sure he runs the place.

What happens

Hank is Head of Ranch Security. He says so a lot. He does night patrol, files reports, keeps the coyotes honest and naps at the gas tanks between shifts with his assistant Drover, who is not much help.

Drover's contribution on this particular evening is to ask whether Hank is awake. Then whether he can see the moon. Then why the moon comes up in the evening. Hank explains, at length, that the moon is made of cheese and also of hot air, and Drover writes none of it down.

Then Sally May comes out with the supper scraps.

Pete the Barncat gets steak bones and long strips of steak fat. Hank gets a corncob. Dogs do not eat corncobs. Hank leaves his in the dirt and goes off to sulk in the weeds, which is exactly what Pete was counting on.

Because the next thing Hank hears is a cat purring over how lovely those corncobs are. And once the cat wants them, obviously they are worth something. By morning Hank has himself a Priceless Corncob and is working out whether a dog this wealthy can really go on doing night patrol for nothing.

Hank narrates the whole book and he is very funny because he never once suspects himself. He loses his own arguments, forgets his own point, and calls a criminal a crinimal. Your reader sees the trick happening well before Hank does, which is the best seat in the house.

One thing to know before you start. This is a Texas ranch and Hank talks like one. He says by George and fixing to a lot, and there is sewer water, gunnysacks, buzzards and a fair bit of spitting. A reader who has met plenty of American books will not blink. A reader who has not may want the first chapter read out loud once, just to hear how it goes.

Hank does mention at the start that his life ends up hanging in the balance before the day is done. He would say that, mind.

What to read next

If the cat winning is what gets the laughs, Hank has plenty more cases in the library. Every Dog has His Day starts with him in disgrace and a smooth border collie doing his job.