Cowboy and Octopus

This picture book is actually several short stories about the unlikely friendship between an octopus and a cowboy. The stories are not too long, sometimes sweet and always hysterical. They celebrate the best of friendship, showcased especially well between these two opposites. For me, the unusual artwork adds immensely to the enjoyment of the book. It is not your typical picture book illustration!My children and I had discovered Cowboy & Octopus at our library, and I knew the first time I read it that it would make the perfect Christmas gift for my lifelong friend who has begun collecting picture books. We had so much fun reading it aloud to everyone after she opened it--she reading the sensible Octopus part and me reading the goofy, yet sincere Cowboy.My children currently range in age from 3 to 12, and I'm sure that in years to come we'll refer often to these funny examples of how friends should treat each other with appreciation, truthfulness and encouragement.

This book is awesome! It is about a cowboy and octopus that become friends because the cowboy has nobody to ride the teeter-totter with one day. It is a hilarious story. They make fun of each other's hats, cowboy makes an excessive amount of bacon and beans and the octopus feels forced to eat them, and they have lots of adventures. The pictures are hilarious because it combines real pictures and drawings. For example: The octopus and cowboy are drawn out, but the beans they are eating are real pictures of beans.My 6 year old loves this book, and I do too. A great read!

My kids find this short book HILARIOUS. It's basically five short one-page chapter stories about Cowboy and Octopus, done in a mostly collage style.It's growing on me after about 30 read-throughs. Make sure to do the voices of octopus (prim) and cowboy (country) for full effect. A lot of deep philosophy about friendship and kindness under the surface.

Hilarious! I read this to a class I work with at school (kindergartners) and I laughed out loud at the witty banter and clever pictures. I think I enjoyed it as much ad they did! So I bought it for my 7 y.o. and she loves it so much that she reads it to anyone who will listen, complete with a put-on Texas accent for cowboy's dialogue. Priceless.

We purchased this book for our toddler because we love anything with an octopus and, after reading it ourselves, I have to say this is perhaps one of the funniest and fun-est books on our shelves. I'm back on Amazon to order a handful more copies to give as gifts to children and adults (with the right sense of humor.) The dry wit and random narrative come together to entertain all ages. Is the best passage the one with the botched knock-knock joke? Or the brutal honest opinion on hats? You will want to decide for yourself.

The book is totally off-the-wall, the art is somewhat Roy-Lichtensteinesque, the text is wacky (but the stories have a moral), my son loved it from the age of 18 months to now (26 months), and has no sign of getting tired of it (despite getting tired of plenty of books in the meantime). Jon Szieszka seems to be a prolific author of kid's book (many with Lane Smith, some without), some surreal (like this one) some pretty standard. All good.

I have several books by Scieszka but this is my favorite. It's broken up into very short tales between Cowboy and Octopus. All are pretty silly but some are warm and have nice lessons within. I actually bought a few more books by Scieszka but none were quite as enjoyable as this one. This is one I really love reading them at bedtime even if I'm tired out.

I picked up this book at the library for my 2 year old son, and ended up buying it shortly thereafter. It is absolutely hilarious - very dry humor, but nothing inappropriate. In a sea of repetitive, simplified and occasionally painfully boring children's books, this one is definitely a winner and one I look forward to reading.

連想ゲームです。「カウボーイ」ときたら何と答えますか？すぐに「タコ」と答える人は99％いないでしょう。もしも、カウボーイとタコという全く接点がなさそうな１人と１匹が友達になったらどうなるか　　をユーモラスに描いたのがこの絵本。シーソー遊び、おいしそうな(?)食事会、タコのお気に入りのジョークなどなど、7つのショートストーリで構成されています。ハローウィンで妖精に仮装したタコはけっこう笑えました。絵としてのみどころは、ペーパークラフトやコミックブックからの切り抜きをそのまま使った彼らの姿。作品中は、まったく同じポーズのままです。彼らを取り巻く世界も、切り抜きや写真によるコラージュで構成されLANE SMITHによるデザイン的な遊び心をぞんぶんに堪能できます。しかし、なぜに「カウボーイ」と「タコ」なのか？　という疑問は読後も残ったまま。「カウボーイ　アンド　○○○」という元ネタがあって、そのパロディーなのか？あるいはアメリカ人ならピンとくる、裏の意味があるのでしょうか？