The Cowboys of Mill Creek Manor

Cookie Morgan wants to be a teacher when she grows up. Or a cowboy. After a series of enlightening events during the summer of 1950, she realizes that the heroes in her favorite westerns can't hold a candle to the ones in her tiny coal town in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. Cookie and the other kids in her neighborhood spend an ample amount of their free time pretending to be the stars of their favorite cowboy movies and shows. Up to this point in their lives, they can only see these popular characters at the movie theater or on the small-screen television at Cullie's bar. So it's a great surprise when Pop Morgan, Cookie's dad and a Reading Railroad engineer, is the first on their street to purchase a TV for home viewing. Cookie's imagination is spurred, but could she ever become a real hero? Set in the mid-20th century, when westerns were all the rage, and told through Cookie's point of view, The Cowboys of Mill Creek Manor is a coming-of-age tale of how one girl views herself and the people around her. From her family and friends to the stars of movies and TV shows, she learns what it really means to be a hero. The children's chapter book by author and teacher Dave Webb is based on his mother's recollections of her childhood and contains vivid descriptions of life in small town Pennsylvania in the late 1940's and early 1950's.