Cowboy Charlie by Jeanette Winter is a fun, cute picture book biography of Charles Marion Russell. When I opened the book to read it to my preschooler, I had no idea that it was a biography at all, but I was delighted to find that it was about a real person after all.

Cowboy Charlie tells a story of a little boy in St. Louis who wanted to grow up to be a cowboy in the West. He fulfills his dream and spends the rest of his life painting the things he saw and experienced as a cowboy.

Winter not only wrote the story, but illustrated each page in gorgeous acrylics. I loved showing the pictures to my preschooler, who in turn enjoyed showing me various details. Her very favorite was this depiction of “a bird sitting on a dragon skull”.

Cowboy Charlie was an engaging read for both me and my preschooler. Although there is a lot of text per page, we happily made it through the whole book in one sitting (something rare for my two-year-old.) I definitely see us turning to Cowboy Charlie again and again.

Activity

After reading Cowboy Charlie, I wanted to do something fun with my kids to engage with the story more. Because Charles Marion Russell was a painter and the storyline has to do with his painting, I pulled out some washable paints for the kids.

As they explored color in their own paintings, I read Cowboy Charlie aloud again, asking Millie about her favorite parts and animals. She decided to paint a sheep, just like Charlie.

Because my youngest is too little to keep things out of her mouth, I filled a Ziploc bag with a couple dabs of red and blue so she could safely enjoy mixing colors.

We also looked up some of Charles Marion Russell’s real paintings. Millie enjoys art, so it was fun to explore a new artist.

Looking for more picture book biographies? Try these:

Fiona’s Lace Review

What Miss Mitchell Saw Review