Whistling Willie from Amarillo, Texas

The mother-daughter team behind Finding Daddy returns with an amusing tall tale about a “pudgy” wannabe Texas Ranger named Willie, whose broad smile and whistling habit don’t impress the Rangers. “You don’t look mean enough,” reads the rejection letter Willie receives. “You are too smiley and your belly is too big.” But when a pair of “low-down, ornery varmints” guzzle all the soda and ice cream set aside for Amarillo’s Fourth of July celebration, Willie succeeds where the Rangers fail—his mighty whistle summons a tornado that drags Sidewinder Slim and Corkscrew Slade out of their canyon hideaway and dumps them in the middle of town in their long johns. The Harpers stuff their down-home narration with humorous metaphors and turns of phrase, especially where the punishing Texas heat is concerned (“It was so hot in Amarillo, the fence posts withered”), and Harrington (Spaghetti Smiles) adds to the fun with rowdy caricatures that play roly-poly Willie against the lean, strapping Rangers who stampede into town. An endnote supplies information about the Texas Rangers for readers who share Willie’s fascination. Ages 5–8. (Oct.)