A Book Recommendation For Hank Fans

Do you know Hank? If so, this post is for you.

I didn't grow up on Hank the Cowdog. I think I may have heard of him before I got married but it wasn't until Isaac was around Charles' age that he became a permanent part of my life. When Chris discovered the row of audio books at the local library, it wasn't long until they began making a steady stream through our doors...er... tape player.

I don't even know how to describe the books for those of you who aren't familiar with them? Back when my blog consisted of little snippets for blog posts, I wrote this little Hank bit about warm paws.  I roll my eyes over the silliness of the stories sometimes and I get weary of repeated listening but mostly, we all enjoy a good Hank The Cowdog story as a family. And, as Eicher tradition would have it, our children are experts at their own renditions of choice passages. The most hysterical to listen to are Isaac and Charles's. I will throw in this disclaimer here -- there is a bit of "language" included in the books that I am not overly fond of. As a whole, they are quite entertaining and wholesome.

Some time back, I listened to an interview of the author, John R. Erickson, and ever since then my fondness and appreciation of the Hank stories has increased. You can listen to the interview here. In my opinion, it would be hard to find a more humble, down to earth man than John R. Erickson.

Several months ago, I discovered that a new book was coming out titled "Finding Hank". The purpose of it was to give the author a chance to answer all the many questions he has received over the years about his writing. I decided it was a book this Hank loving household needed.

Our copy arrived in the mail last week and we have been thoroughly enjoying it. It is a lovely, hardcover book with lots of pictures and intriguing behind-the-scenes stories and facts. We've all spent lots of time looking through it and sharing the stories we've read. I love to watch Charles poring over the pictures.

These two pages are his favorite, with the pictures of the characters and the map showing all the places in the stories. 

 The book is divided into five sections, grouping the questions into different categories, which makes it easy to find any answers you might be looking for.

Probably a favorite section is part three, where John tells what inspired the characters and places in his books. There really were real life dogs that inspired "Hank" and "Drover" and many of the other characters were inspired by one or several people or animals the author knew.

If you have Hank the Cowdog fans in your life, this book is a must read!  You can buy it here or look it up on Amazon or in your local bookstore. I don't get anything out of this, I just thought you all should know.

One of my favorite quotes in the book comes from John's answer to the question, "Are you famous? Rich?"

"Am I rich? Hank has been a good dog and has brought me a comfortable standard of living, and I feel blessed for that. But what makes me rich is that I've been married to the same lady for fifty years, I've got three children and two dogs who like me, I have a clear conscience, and I sleep well at night. 

I'm doing what I want to do and I find meaning in it. Could a billion dollars bring something better than that? I doubt it."

Now that's the kind of attitude about life that I can get behind!