Leroy Ninker Saddles Up

Leroy Ninker Saddles Up
by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen
Candlewick Press, 2014. 90 pages. Intermediate

Leroy Ninker sells popcorn at the movies, but what he really wants to be is a cowboy. All this remains a dream until Beatrice Leapaleoni, ticket-taker at the Bijou, tells him to take his fate in his hands and wrestle it to the ground. She shows him an ad for an exceptionally cheap horse for sale. He is hoping for a fast, strong horse he will name Tornado, but the horse he gets is a bag of bones named Maybelline. Maybelline responds not to reins and spurs, but to loving, flattering speech. Maybelline won't fit through the door of Leroy's apartment, but other than that, they get on swimmingly until Maybelline runs away on a stormy night and Leroy can't find her. But no worries! Maybelline is found on Deckawoo drive and Mrs. Watson and Mercy invite all in for a buttery toast breakfast. Kate DiCamillo has done it again and devotees of the Mercy Watson series should be pleased as punch to meet this dynamic new duo - Leroy Ninker, cowboy, and his horse Maybelline.

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