Back in my 1940s days at Abilene High School, the English teachers assigned you to write a book review.
If you were a West Texas guy who wanted to write about Smoky the Cow Horse, most often you would find the book was already checked out of the library.
Here’s a review a professional wrote of Will James novel:
Smoky knows only one way of life: freedom. Living on the open range, he is free to go where he wants and do what he wants. And being a smart colt, he learns what he must in order to survive. He can beat any enemy whether it be a rattlesnake or a hungry wolf. He is as much a part of the Wild West as it is of him, and Smokey can’t imagine anything else.
But then he comes across a new enemy, one that walks on two legs and makes funny sounds. Smoky can’t beat this enemy like he has all the others. But does he really want to beat it? Or could giving up some of his freedom mean getting something else in return that’s even more valuable?
Fess Parker played that two-legged man in a movie, back when he played Davy Crockett in the Disney TV shows. Fess attended Abilene High three years before I did, but we became close friends at The University in Austin.
Fess tamed Smoky in the movie, then appeared with the stallion in a paperback book cover. Maybe he lucked out, checked out, read then reviewed a copy of the book in our high school.
