Title: Another Kind of Cowboy
Author: Susan Juby
Publish Date: December 2007
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Pages: 352pp
ISBN: 0060765178
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Range: Teen
Annotation: Alex and forge an connection and become best friends over horses. As they become closer they help each become who they really are.
What's Dressage?!!
First of all here is the definition of Dressage for those of us that aren't up with the Horse lingo Via http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dressage
dres·sage n. The guiding of a horse through a series of complex maneuvers by slight movements of the rider's hands, legs, and weight.
[French, preparation, training, dressage, from dresser, to set up, arrange, train, from Old French drecier, to set up, arrange; see dress.]
Summary: Meet Alex. He LOVES horses. He dreams of riding (even by pretending he's on one while riding bikes. When his dad wins a horse it opens him up to a world of horses and dressage and somewhere he can be himself. Meet Cleo. Wild and crazy with absentee parents, she uses the stables to gain a fresh start after making a stupid mistake and being sent off to live at boarding school on Vancouver Island. The dressage lessons are part of the sentence. Together the too night and day horse lovers find that they may actually have more in common (and in secret) and become better friends then they would have thought possible. Alex is secretly homosexual and Cleo has a desire to find love but has never really had a true friend. Can Cleo find love if she has never really had a real friend? And can Alex face who he really is?
Reading Log: A humorous look at a polarizing issue but from the eyes of the individual. Also a touching story about animal lovers who find themselves against a backdrop of "man's" other best friend. I love how it can show the girl's perspective when they think they find love in the wrong place. I liked this book because even though I have never really rode horses I thought it was stronger in the relationship department and very relatable.
Susan Juby's Website: http://www.susanjuby.com/cowboy.htm
