Hi welcome to the Old Idaho Penitentiary.
I'm Suzanne Squires and the Educational
Specialist here at the Old Penitentiary.
And I am going to share a fabulous book
with you today and it is called Kid
Sheriff and the Terrible Toads. It's
written by Bob Shea and illustrated by
Lane Smith. Alright, Drywater Gulch had
a toad problem.
Not the hop-down-your britches kind of a
toad. Not the croaking-all-night kind of a
toad. The never-say-thank-you outlaw kind
of toad. Why, those Toad brothers would
steal your gold, kiss your cattle, and
insult your chili. Hootin', hollerin', and
cussin' all the while. Mayor McMuffin was
beside his self. His cumin-scented town
was a goner.
Then hope rode into town. Slowly. On a
tortoise.
Give him a minute.
"Howdy stranger. What brings you to
our spicy town?" asked the mayor.
"I'm your new sheriff," said the boy. "Can
you handle a shooting iron?" "Nope." "
"Ride a horse?" "Nope." "Know any rope tricks?" "Nope."
"Stay up past eight?" "Nope." "Well then, what
makes you a sheriff?" asked the mayor. "I know
know a really lot about dinosaurs," said Ryan.
"Pleased to meet you, Sheriff," said the
mayor.
Boom!
"The bank!" said the mayor. "The Toads!"
"A hole this big means one thing-
T.rex," said the sheriff. "Or dynamite," said
the mayor. "T.rex don't need no dynamite.
Largest predator of the Cretaceous
period," said the sheriff. "Wow, you're good," said
the mayor. "Quick! The stagecoach been
robbed!" a lady called. "Whaddya reckon,
Sheriff, T.rex?" asked the mayor. "T.rex
little baby arms ain't fit for the
intricacies of knot tying,"
said Sheriff Ryan. "So it were them Toads?"
asked the mayor. "Nope. Velociraptors. Whole
mess of them. Confused your stagecoach
with a lumbering Protoceratops, I reckon.
Honest mistake."
"Why never once did I suspect dinosaurs
while the Toads were a robbin' me.
I feel mighty foolish," said Jimmy the
stagecoach driver.
"Why I bet it were some crazy diney-o-saur what jumped my claim and stole my
gold. Right, sheriff? said Gabby the town
prospector. "Nope,"
said the sheriff, "probably Toads. Don't be
so quick to blame the dinosaurs." "That
were wrong a me," said Gabby. "I'm powerful
sorry." "Not as sorry as y'all gonna be!"
It were the Toads. Itchin' for some
hootin', hollerin', and cattle kissin'. "No
time for your foolishness. Dinosaurs just
robbed the bank," said the sheriff. "We got
a cattle kissin' Triceratops and a knot-tying, stagecoach-robbin' Velociraptor.
"What? That ain't right. We done robbed those!"
said the big mean Toad. "And weren't no try-
lollipops kissin' them cattle neither. Why I smooched them beefy lips my own
self!" said the big weird Toad.
"We been shoplifting from the mercantile
all afternoon, too!" said the big ugly Toad.
"Allosaurus more likely," said the sheriff.
"Sticky fingers." "Oh yeah, then who's been
insulting all the chili? Jerkosaurus rex?"
said the big ugly Toad, who was also very,
very funny. "Stegosaurus," said the sheriff. "Herbivore.
Only eats plants. Whip up a batch of
vegetarian chili and he'd surely take a
shine to it."
"That's enough!" said the big mean Toad.
"We done all them crimes! Ain't fair
giving the credit to no dineysaurs after the
hard work we put in." "Darn tootin'!" said the
big weird Toad. "Cattle kissin' is
downright disgustin'. I want what's
comin' to me." "Well, I reckon I could
arrest you for being such a plum
nuisance, but I need this here jail for
the real criminals. Dinosaurs are mighty
big," said the sheriff. "Real criminals? We'll
show you!" said the big ugly Toad. "Outta my
way!" said the big mean Toad. "Dinersores
my foot!" said the big weird Toad. The
Toads fought their way through the door
of the jail, slamming it shut behind them.
"Ha!
You can blow them dinersores out your
nose, Sheriff, this here jail is full up
of real bonafide criminals!"
The sheriff locked the jail good and
tight.
"Hooray!" the people cheered. Sheriff Ryan
saddled up his tortoise. "Are you sure you
can't stay? The town could use
a good paleontologist," said the mayor.
"Sorry, Mayor," said sheriff Ryan. "I'm a
lawman."
Over the next three days he rode off into the sunset.
So there's Sheriff Ryan doing his job
without any violence, just trickery. I
hope you enjoyed it.
