Under Cowboy Sam's hat are more secrets than fleas on Doc Peeble's hound dog, more secrets than peppers on a chili pepper plant, and more secrets than spikes on a horny toad lizard. Just about everyone in the town of Dry Gulch wants to tell Sam a secret. But when his hat gets plum full of secrets and won't stay put on his head, Sam is bumfuzzled and bewildered. How can he keep all those secrets under wraps--and keep the townfolk from going crazy? Perfectly matched by Mike Wohnoutka's comic illustrations, this funny and unexpectedly touching tale will appeal to readers young and old alike.

Reviews
From Publishers Weekly- STARRED

Caballero wannabes will get a bigger-than-Texas bang out of Griffin and Combs's slangy, twangy debut. Cowboy Sam, the best confidant in Dry Gulch, keeps more secrets under his hat "than fleas on Doc Peeble's hound dog (and that's a whole lot of fleas)." But one day his hat gets so full that it starts popping off his head. While the townspeople worry about what will become of their secrets, Sam tries holding down his hat with horseshoes and a sack of oats, then ties it down with a leather strap and even stands on his head all to no avail. "That hat exploded and blew Sam way up into the air like a wild turkey. All the secrets rocketed into outer space." In the end, there's only one place big enough: Cowboy Sam's heart. The authors embellish this tall tale with a passel of colorful descriptions ("higher than a jackrabbit jumping over a prickly pear cactus") and rhythmic phrases ("He felt more bamboozled than an armadillo without his armor. More dejected than a crawdad without his craw. More lonesome than a Texas ranger without his range"). Wohnoutka's (Counting Sheep) comical acrylic illustrations have a touch of Mark Teague, particularly in their large-as-life perspectives and round, stylized faces, but the palette here is milder, brushed with the soft colors of the Southwest. Rootin'-tootin' boot-scootin' fun, beginning to end. Ages 4-8.

Beginnings

Cowboy Sam didn't get his start like most picture book characters. They usually start in the mind of the author. Sam began with the artist.

Here's Mike's view of Sam's beginning:

I guess I created Cowboy Sam before I knew his name. I had done a drawing of a cowboy in my sketch book one day and decided to use him as my logo on my business card. Soon after I met Michele Coppola at a conference and gave her a few samples of my work along with my business card. A few months later Michele called me to tell that one of her writer friends had seen my card and was inspired to write a story about the cowboy. Michele wanted to know if I would be interested in illustrating the book and of course I was thrilled about the idea. It was such a great story to illustrate, the idea was so creative and there was so much animation in Sam's character. There were some challenges in illustrating the story, but the final results were definitely worth it. I hope you think so too.

Here's Kitty's view of Sam's beginning:

Kitty was the writer who fell in love with Sam and wanted to make him into a picture book character. Here's her view of the next phase of Sam:

After meeting Michele at our local SCBWI conference, I followed up with my own trip to NYC. My daughter wanted to see "Ragtime" and Michele was looking at a story of mine called "Lighting Fires." We made our way to the Clarion offices and had a wonderful visit with Michele. We talked about stories, adventures, and made some plans. As we were getting ready to leave, Michele said, "Wait, I have some artwork I want to show you." We oohed and ahhed over work from two different artists. Both were very unique and lively styles. The picture of the little cowboy stayed in my head. The little guy with the big hat. Michele explained she'd love to have something for either
artist.

Bing. My electric popcorn brain started popping. A week later, when I was on an adventure of my own at Chincoteague Island, Virginia, I began thinking about Sam. I'd named him. Or perhaps he told me his name. Sam. A man who could be trusted. But why did he wear that huge hat? Later it came to me, what do you say to someone when you want them to keep a secret, "Can you keep it under your hat?" So, within two weeks of seeing the drawing of the little cowboy, I had a name and a potential problem.

It took my Texas friend Kathy to help me Texasize it. And she'll tell you her part.

Here's Kathy's view of Sam's beginning:

Kitty sends me an e-mail one day entitled "Get to Work". Here's the message she sent with it: "Here's the first rough draft of our, yes our, book. If you help me Texasize the book the authors will be listed as Kitty and Kathy. That's it. Don't argue with me. When it's a best seller we can travel and write and be nice to people when we want." Kitty can be rather bossy at times. That's just one of the things I like about her. She can also be a dreamer. Which is another thing I like about her. We both spend lots of time in dreamland. Well, that first draft of Cowboy Sam was a story about a cowboy who kept one big secret - that his wife was expecting a baby. I flavored it with Texas language and worked on the rhythm of it and we sent it off to Michele.

Michele loved it except for one thing - she didn't like the one big secret Sam was keeping. She didn't want this book to be about a new baby. Back to the drawing board. Somewhere along the way Kitty and I decided to make Sam the keeper of a lot of secrets instead of just one. Our minds meshed together so well on this that's it's hard to remember who came up with what ideas - one of us had an idea that sparked the other and then it just snowballed. We started creating characters to tell Sam secrets. We started playing with the rhyme and the rhythm and having so much fun doing it that it consumed most of our thoughts for many weeks. At last we had a new version to send to Michele.

And here is Michele's response to Cowboy Sam and his confounded secrets:

When I met Mike at an SCBWI conference in Minneapolis several years ago, the cowboy on his business card stuck in my mind. I think the best stories start with a memorable character, and SAM was one of those characters I couldn't forget. I remember asking Mike if he had a story to go along with that picture of the cowboy with the big hat. He said he didn't, but I knew just the right person to go to for ideas--Kitty Griffin. Now, it's not typical for picture books to develop in this way--they usually begin with a manuscript, with an author's vision--but in this case I just knew Sam's story had to be told. Kitty and co-author Kathy Combs put their heads together, and after a few revisions (manuscripts are never perfect on the first try!) they came up with a tale that's fresh and original and downright funny. We gave the text to Mike and he ran with it, creating vivid, exciting paintings to bring the story to life. The result is a fabulous blend of text and pictures--magic!