Pecos Bill is the fabled hero of the cattle country. Here is presented some three hundred pages of his marvelous exploits and deeds of daring. Few legendary heroes are so universally loved as Pecos Bill. His exploits appeal to young and old alike. The lover of tall tales will find much to delight him. Those who are interested in real American folk lore will find a wealth of material here. Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan take their place together as the two great legendary American heroes.

Dr. James Cloyd Bowman is the Head of the English Department at the Northern State Teachers College, Marquette, Michigan. He is a specialist in the field of native American folk lore. He is the author of a large number of books, among the best known of which are TALES FROM A FINNISH TUPA and THE ADVENTURES OF PAUL BUNYAN.

Laura Bannon lives in Chicago. She is the Director of Art Work for Children at the Art Institute. She did the delightful art work for TALES FROM A FINNISH TUPA for which she has received wide acclaim. 

From the dust jacket

A Newbery Honor book in 1938, James Bowman's PECOS BILL is the perfect introduction to a great American comic hero and to the delights of the American tall tale. Jolted off the back of his westward-bound pioneer family's covered wagon, four-year-old Bill is left in the dust by his eighteen wawling and brawling siblings and never-suspecting mom and dad. Raised by coyotes as one of their own, Bill retains a natural innocence while developing a host of supernatural powers. When he finds out that he is a man, not a coyote, and returns to confront the often inhuman human world, those powers will come in handy. Bill never uses them maliciously, always for good, or simply to amaze and amuse. James Bowman was a fine folklorist and an outstanding storyteller and he relates Pecos Bill's wild deeds in a plainspoken voice that highlights their wonderful swagger and charm. With lively color and black-and-white illustrations by Laura Bannon, Bowman's PECOS BILL remakes bedrock American myth into a novel full of high adventure, outrageous fantasy, laughter, and sheer fun.

From the NYRB Children's Collection edition