Exciting Cowboy and Cowgirl Books for Kids
Stories of cowboys, cowgirls, and the Wild, Wild West have long captivated the attention and imagination of young readers. From stories of sheriffs and outlaws to rodeos and cattle drives, nothing captures the excitement, danger, and adventure of life in the saddle like children’s books.
Here, we’ve rounded up a list of our favorite children’s books with cowgirls and cowboys in them. Some of these popular cowpoke characters might be familiar to you, while others might be new cowgirls and cowboys you’ll be glad to meet.
Our list includes board, picture, and chapter books. Our board books are best for the youngest ranch hands, from babies to toddlers. Our picture books offer stories of a cowgirl or cowboy’s life under the stars perfect for kids kindergarten through early elementary school age. Our chapter books include great western books for young rangers elementary through early middle school age. You can filter the list by book type or browse all types.
Let us know what titles you would add to the list!
This is a playful cowpoke tale for young readers. I enjoy Mark Iacolina’s illustration style in this and his other books. The rhyming is well done as it depicts some typical activities for cowboys and girls.
Buckaroos ride. Buckaroos wrangle. Buckaroo’s spurs go jingle jangle.
This rollicking, rhyming board book will have young cowboys and girls eager to pull on their boots, put on their hats, and saddle up. With his trusty dog by his side, this little buckaroo goes riding through a rootin’ tootin’ day filled with action, fun, and even a first place prize!
Bo, an adventurous, near-sighted armadillo, leaves his mother and brothers to follow a girl heading to a rodeo wearing new red boots which Bo mistakes for another armadillo.
The first in a series of illustrated children’s books set in a magical wild west town.
This cowboy thinks washing his dog will be a piece of cake, but he’s in for a lot of chaos! The text in this book is consistent with the character, so it’s not all grammatically correct, but it makes for some entertaining, out-loud reading.
Cowpoke Clyde’s house was completely clean—he’d even shooed off the horseflies: “Then right behind his cookin’ pot, / he spied one thing he’d plumb forgot: / ol’ Dawg, his faithful, snorin’ friend, / all caked with mud from end to end.” Needless to say, Dawg wakes up and runs. The chase that follows—with page-turn surprises—makes for a hilarious shaggy-dog story involving fleas, a hog, bribery, cats, deception, and a mule. The rhyming stanzas are pitch-perfect, Texas-style, and plumb near cry out to be read aloud. Austin’s expressive acrylic and colored-pencil caricatures of Cowpoke Clyde and his menagerie are priceless. A storytime shoo-in!
Cowboy Small takes good care of his horse, rides the range, helps in the roundup, and rides a bucking bronco, in a board-book adaptation of a long-time children’s favorite.
B is for Buckaroo: A Cowboy Alphabet - “L is for lariat or lasso, a loop of rope coiled just so. Swing it wide or swing it low. Hook those horns and yell whoa!” Hold on to your hat and strap on your spurs! Cowpokes and buckaroos of all ages will enjoy this A-Z gallop through the facts, feats, and folks of the cowboy way of life. Even greenhorns are invited to ride this fun-filled range!
Kid Sheriff and the Terrible Toads - The Book Snob Mom - The stark, stylized illustrations in this book fit perfectly with the old western theme of this classic cowboy tale… with a twist of dinosaurs. While the story is a little far-fetched (the thieves surrendering themselves because they want the credit for their bad deeds!) it’s silly and fun and a fantastic premise for a children’s book.
Texas Baby - Babies from Texas show readers some of the distinctive things about the state where they live and play.
Every Cowgirl Needs a Horse - Nellie Sue, who fancies herself a real cowgirl, wants a horse for her birthday, but she discovers that a brand new bicycle—her first—takes almost as much taming as a filly.
Forging an instant bond with spaghetti-loving horse Maybelline, horseless cowboy Leroy Ninker inadverently risks eternal loneliness when he forgets a vital rule about Maybelline’s care.
“Giddyup, giddyup as fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man!”
The Gingerbread Cowboy can run from the rancher, he can dash past the javelinas, and he can giddyup right by the cattle grazing on the mesa. But what happens when he meets a coyote sleeping in the sun?
Janet Squires and Holly Berry retell this classic tale with a Wild Western flair, filled with rodeo-romping fun.
Depicts how cowboys lived in the Old West, describes their methods of raising cattle, and discusses their pastimes
Fourteen-year-old John comes of age and gains self-reliance during the summer he spends up in the Wyoming mountains tending his father’s herd of sheep.
Their magic tree house takes Jack and Annie back to the Wild West, where they experience excitement and danger and try to solve a riddle.
Cowpoke Clyde Rides the Range - Cowpoke Clyde is plumb confused. An ad in his favorite catalog says he oughta buy a bike. But why should he do that? After all, he’s got a horse. Still, a bike wouldn’t buck or bite, and he wouldn’t have to feed it. He orders one, and when it comes, he mounts up and sets right off, wibble-wobblin’ down the road. Good thing he’s got his trusty friend Dawg to look out for him. Turns out learning to ride a bike is just a tad bit harder than he thought! With its rip-roaring rhyming text and turn-the-page revelations, this book is pure read-aloud fun.
The Lone Ranger - In this classic Little Golden Book from 1956, The Lone Ranger and Tonto help a young boy find his missing brother—and end up capturing a bunch of bandits! For little cowboys ages 2 to 6.
How I Spent My Summer Vacation - A schoolboy tell his class about his summer vacation, during which he joined a group of cowboys and stopped a cattle stampede.
Cowboys and Cowgirls - In words and pictures, this book captures all the excitement and adventure of the Wild West. Gibbons’s colorful watercolors deftly recreate cowboys clothing, equipment, and lifestyle, and the lively text includes descriptions of famous cowboys and cowgirls, as well as historical facts. Full color.
Pancho Bandito is a giant kid cowboy in the Old West who longs for his own horse. He travels to Texas to sell some cattle but runs into the greatest challenge he’s ever faced: the monstrous Amarillo Armadillo. Can Pancho save Fort Worth from the beast and make a friend along the way?Pancho Bandito and the Amarillo Armadillo is a tall tale picture book set in the American Southwest. The playful language and gorgeous landscapes will please readers of all levels.
A little girl imagines what her daily life would be like if she were a cowgirl, living out west on a ranch with cows and sheep, riding a horse, and sleeping under the stars.
This clever celebration of words and their meanings features a strong cowgirl who wrangles words alongside cattle.
Lexie is the best wrangler west of the Mississippi—word wrangler, that is. She watches over baby letters while they grow into words and ties shorter words together into longer ones; she herds words into sentences, hitches sentences together, and pens them all in to tell a story. But lately, something seems off at the ranch. First the d goes missing from her bandana, leaving her with a banana to tie around her neck, and soon afterward every S-T-A-R in the sky turns into R-A-T-S. There’s no doubt about it—there’s a word rustler causing this ruckus, and Lexie plans to track him down . . . even if it means riding her horse through the sticky icing of a desert that’s suddenly become a giant dessert.
This fantastic spin on “cowboy” stories populates Lexie’s ranch with lively letters and words, alongside the typical cattle and horses, and stars a smart, confident, charismatic heroine. Rebecca Van Slyke’s creative, silly wordplay pairs perfectly with Jessie Hartland’s lively illustrations, and there’s even a glossary of helpful terms for up-and-coming word wranglers.
The Aldens are at Wildcat Crossing, a recreated frontier town full of cowboy fun! But when horses disappear and other pranks threaten to ruin the Wild West show, the Boxcar Children must find out who’s the varmint causing all the trouble!
Although Avery cannot stand to eat the grub, is allergic to horses and gets rope burns from lassos, he learns at cowboy camp that he possesses the most important cowboy quality.
Cindy Ellen: A Wild Western Cinderella - Once upon a time, there was a sweet cowgirl named Cindy Ellen, who lived with the orneriest stepmother west of the Mississippi and two stepsisters who were so nasty, they made rattlesnakes look nice! But when a fast-talkin’ fairy godmother teaches Cindy Ellen a little lesson about gumption, Cindy lassos first place at the rodeo and the heart of Joe Prince…. You may think you’ve heard the story before—but you’ll get a side-splittin’ bellyache after you’re through with this hilarious rendition told Wild West-style!
Little Red Hot - Little Red Hot loves red hot chilli peppers. She eats them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When her grandmother catches a cold, Little Red makes her a hot pepper pie that will “knock those cold germs right out of her”. But before Little Red shares her pie with Grandma, she meets Señor Lobo. The pie comes in very handy when the wily wolf tries to trick her into thinking he’s her grandmother.
There Was a Coyote Who Swallowed a Flea - There was a coyote who swallowed a flea, plucked from his knee, that tickly flea. Yippee-o-Ki-Yee! Skinny ol’ Coyote delights readers of all ages as he swallows his way through this delicious southwestern-flavored retelling of a well-loved rhyme. As Coyote gets bigger, the story gets zanier as a bird, a bull, and even an entire cactus end up as dinner. It’s pure fun for everyone―even that little flea.
Henry Goes West - Henry the Duck takes a trip out to the Wild West where he finds himself up to his feathers in merry mis-adventure in this fresh and lively picture book from beloved author Robert Quackenbush! Henry the Duck sure gets himself into some sticky situations! When he finally goes out to the wild, wild West to visit his friend Clara, he finds out that he has another surprise waiting for him back home. Children and parents alike will love following disaster-prone Henry through his adventures in travel, cleverly written and illustrated by Robert Quackenbush.
This whimsical take on Little Red Riding Hood brings new life to an old favorite.
Cowboy Cody is western-themed children’s book. Cody desperately wants to be a cowboy but there’s just one problem. Cody lives in the city! Ride along as he discovers that with grit and determination, our wildest and woolliest dreams can come true.
Tommy James may be little but he knows how to wrangle in a bully like Bo Jones. A cowboy’s story about wit and determination. Tommy James may be the littlest cowboy in Reckon’ but he has the heart and determination of a giant. Bullied by Bo Jones, he quickly figures out how to get around this local cowboy. This is the first in the series.
Did you enjoy our children's book recommendations? Did we miss one of your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!