Hank the Cowdog author John Erickson has donated one of his short stories—The Dancing Cowboy—to newspapers across the country. The story will be featured in serial form in The Canadian Record beginning next week—in our Thursday, May 7 edition—and will appear each week for the following 12 weeks.

Erickson donated the story in an effort to cheer kids and families during quarantine, and we are happy to lend our ink and newsprint to that cause.

Erickson is the author of 75 books and more than 600 articles, and is best known for his Hank the Cowdog series of books, audiobooks, and stage plays. His stories have won a number of awards, including the Audie, Oppenheimer, Wrangler, and Lamplighter, and have been translated into Spanish, Danish, Farsi, and Chinese.

The Hank the Cowdog series began as a self-publishing venture in his garage in 1982 and has endured to become one of the nation’s most popular series for children and families. Through the eyes of Hank the Cowdog, a smelly, smart-aleck Head of Ranch Security, Erickson gives readers a glimpse of daily life on a ranch in the West Texas Panhandle. USA Today calls the series “the best family entertainment in years.”

If you enjoy this series, and are a fan of Erickson’s work, The Record staff just asks that you do one favor in return: Send us a short note or a picture you’ve made thanking Erickson and Hank the Cowdog for making your day a little better, and we’ll make sure our readers (among them, the author himself) sees it. We hope you’ll enjoy!

You can email us at laurie@canadianrecord.com, drop your message off at The Record office, or mail it to The Canadian Record at PO Box 898, Canadian, TX 79014.