Tyler is very proud of his new cowboy boots, bought for the annual cattle drive at Uncle Roy’s farm in the Rocky Mountain foothills. A city slicker, Tyler’s only worn runners before. Now, happily shod, he daydreams on the bus about the admiring comments of the others when he arrives. But there’s too much going on for anyone to notice. As the cattle drive progresses, the once-shiny boots get covered in dust, scraped by branches, filled with river water… till they look new no longer. The boots take even more punishment as Tiger (as the cowboys call him) keeps chasing after a troublesome orphan calf. When all the cattle have arrived safely at their summer meadow, one of the cowboys finally notices the boots. Tyler’s cousin Jessica – they are the only two youngsters there – points out that his boots, which he thought were ruined, now look comfortably used, just like hers. A rueful Tyler realizes this is probably a good thing.

Alberta writer and farmer Morck is an established young-adult novelist (she has written A Question of Courage, Between Brothers, and Tough Trails), but this is her first picture book. Illustrator Georgia Graham may be familiar to readers for her work in Andrea Spalding’s The Most Beautiful Kite in the World. Her more recent art for Carol Vaage’s Bibi and the Bull draws on her background as a cattle farmer. Though one may quibble with Graham’s draughtsmanship (the occasionally awkward bodies and exaggerated faces can prove distracting), her realistic, full-colour art captures the sweep of the landscape and the rough and ready process of moving 400 cows and calves up mucky trails and across rivers. The curving tangled branches are an authentic hazard for the riders, yet lend a decorative touch to the illustrations. Graham is particularly strong on the dramatic moment. My favourite of these is a spread of Tyler on horseback in the water, with the recalcitrant calf swimming behind, the fish visible below, and wispy clouds swirling above. The book design uses the full extent of each spread in imaginative ways.

Much of the book’s appeal lies in its verisimilitude and subject matter: the rancher’s unsentimental and pragmatic approach to animals and work rings true. Readers aged five and up (including adults) should enjoy it. Really revel in cowboy culture by pairing this book with Dayal Kaur Khalsa’s Cowboy Dreams, Linda Granfield’s Cowboy: A Kid’s Album or Tod Cody’s The Cowboy’s Handbook.