Alice from Dallas by Marilyn Sadler (review)

Giddyup! Alice, the cowgirl from Dallas, may be only from Dallas, Pennsylvania, but she’s ready for “a hoedown, a roundup, and a showdown.” Undeterred by the truth, she croons cowgirl songs, struts her spurs around school, and takes her classmates on rollicking imaginary stagecoach rides. Happy as a Stetson-hat-wearing clam as the only cowgirl in town, she is upset by the arrival of Lexis from Texas, a big-haired blonde who lassos like nobody’s business. Soon everyone wants to sing around the campfire with Lexis, and Alice decides it’s time for a showdown. When trying to match Alice’s Texas Two-Step lands Lexis with an injured ankle, Alice has to decide if there’s room enough for both of them after all. Hoyt’s playful watercolor illustrations expand on Sadler’s light-hearted text, providing humor and whimsy while capturing the details of an aspiring cowgirl’s world in her clothing, books, and ever-changing bandana for her dog. Swift, pale strokes of red, blue, green, and yellow in mirror Alice’s rangy spirit, as does the straightforward, lively prose. Young readers will enjoy the Wild West tropes smartly used throughout, and they will delight in the expressive images that fancifully capture Alice’s spunk and frankness. While kids can pore over this one on their own, a readaloud or preemptive geography lesson would help explain the oft-confusing idea of different places with the same name, such as Alice’s Dallas, Pennsylvania—or Lexis’ surprise hometown of Texas, Indiana.