Most Popular Books by Will James

Stories about a working cowboy named Bill who drifts from Montana to Arizona.

The range, corral, round-up, and rodeo are seen through the eyes of Smoky, a mouse-colored cow horse. Grades 6-9.

In "Smoky, the Cow Horse," Will James artfully weaves a captivating narrative that celebrates the bond between horse and human against the backdrop of the American West. Through rich, vivid prose and a storytelling style steeped in authentic cowboy vernacular, James paints a realistic portrait of life on the range. The novel uniquely integrates adventure and the complexities of animal behavior, exploring themes of loyalty, resilience, and the intricate relationship between cowboys and their horses. Set in a time when the Western frontier was both a domain of opportunity and hardship, this tale evokes the spirit and struggles of everyday ranch life. Will James, a renowned writer and illustrator, drew from his own experiences as a cowboy to create this compelling work, evidenced by his deep understanding of equine character and life on the frontier. His firsthand knowledge and love for the West inform the narrative, offering readers not only entertainment but also an authentic depiction of cowboy culture. James''s personal journey, from being a ranch hand to a celebrated author, instills his writing with an uncommon sincerity and respect for the land and its creatures. "Smoky, the Cow Horse" is a must-read for anyone fascinated by the romance of the cowboy life, the majesty of horses, or the intricacies of human-animal bonds. James''s lyrical storytelling will resonate with both young readers and seasoned fans of Western literature, inviting them to immerse themselves in a timeless tale of adventure, survival, and the indomitable spirit of the American West.

The experiences of a mouse-colored horse from his birth in the wild, through his capture by humans and his work in the rodeo and on the range, to his eventual old age.

Will James delivers round-up wagons, saddle horses, riders, branding irons, and more in this collection of eight short stories.

Turkey Reframed documents the first decade of the 2000s, a period of radical change in Turkish society and politics, which has been marked by the major economic crisis of 2001 and the coming to power of ex-Islamist cadres organised under the Justice and Development Party (AKP).The contributors analyse this period of radical change, with its continuities and breaks, and its main actor, the AKP, in relation to the creation of a neoliberal hegemony in post-1980 Turkey. They look at the conflictual, turbulent and painful history of neoliberal hegemony and the contested stabilisation strategy of the AKP government.Turkey Reframed is a cutting-edge guide for students, scholars and other interested readers who want to understand this period in Turkeyâe(tm)s recent history and its social tensions.

Will James'' cowboy autobiography Lone Cowboy tells how a little boy, hardly more than a baby, becomes an orphan in the West; how an old French trapper, whom the boy calls Bopy, adopts him and takes him on his long, long hunts; how when he is hardly more than a little boy Bopy is lost in an icy river and the child, heartbroken, rides down into the prairie region alone-on his own. James gives a complete and varied idea of how a cowboy lives. This first appeared in 1930 as James'' life story, following the author''s evolution from boy to cowboy to artist and writer. This will offer new audiences a spirited blend of fiction and autobiography as James traces the early influences which marked his life... --Midwest Book Review

A young city man learns to become a cowboy.

Will James (1892-1942), artist and writer of the American West, was born Joseph Ernest Nephtali Dufault. It was during his creative years everyone grew to know him as Will James. During the next several years, he drifted, worked at several jobs, was briefly jailed for cattle rustling, served in the army, and began selling his sketches and in 1922 sold his first writing, Bucking Horse Riders. The sale of several books followed. In 1926 his most famous book, Smoky the Cowhorse, was published, which won the Newbery Medal in 1927. His fictionalized autobiography, Lone Cowboy, was written in 1930. He also wrote Home Ranch (1935) and he wrote his last book, The American Cowboy, in 1942. In all, he wrote and illustrated 23 books.

This composite book contains three wonderful pieces of work by famous writers - Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, Smoky the Cowhorse by Will James and The Pacing Mustang by Ernest Thompson Seton. Love to animals, to horses in particular, unites these stories. The first book became a world bestseller. It was purchased by more than 50 million readers. In Smoky the Cowhorse an old cowboy tells about hard life of a real cowboy horse in the wide expanse of the prairie. In The Pacing Mustang, the wild black Pacing Mustang couldn’t be caught by any cowboy. Only a greedy cook was able to cunningly entrap the fast horse. In the end, even the cook was left behind by the horse’s tremendous speed.

“This book is the story of a church that has begun to experience the transformative change that will happen when you consciously choose to enter a partnership type of relationship with Jesus, and allow Him to use you beyond your wildest dreams.” So says Will James, senior pastor of the Paradise Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church in National City, California. In this book he outlines how members of the Paradise Valley Church are feeding, clothing, and educating Jesus in the form of some of His needy children who are refugees from many parts of the world. Besides providing food, shelter, clothing, English language classes, and a work training program for people who have fled religious and political persecution, helping many to obtain a college education and good jobs that take these people off of government assistance, church members have learned total dependence upon a God who provides for all of their needs at just the right time.

"John B. Mitchell started out with nothing but a saddle and a long rope--long enough to lasso someone else''s cattle. He left Texas in a hurry with an "appropriated" herd and headed north to find a spread of his own. Half a century later he reigned over the Seven X Ranch, a "fair sized outfit" about sixty miles long and more than forty miles wide. With characteristic understatement and drawl, Will James tells the story of life on the Seven X--a story of hard work, tough humor, and longtime friendships. Join John B. and his family on the home ranch as they round up long horns, ride circle with the cowboys, and try in vain to keep tenderfoots from the city out of trouble." --

This is the story of a cowboy and a cow horse, born on the same day, who together grow big enough for most anything.

Sun Up, the sixth title in the Tumbleweed Series of Will James reprints, collects some of James''s best stories from his previous work along with seven original stories, all accompanied by the author''s lively illustrations. Here are stories of cowboys grow