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Search - List of Books by Will James

Will James (June 6, 1892 - September 3, 1942) was an artist and writer of the American West.

James was born Joseph Ernest Nephtali Dufault, in 1892 in Saint-Nazaire-d'Acton, Quebec, Canada. He started drawing at the age of four on the kitchen floor. James, a Canadian Francophone, settled in the new French-Saskatchewan settlement of Val Marie in 1910 and learned to be a western cowboy. Accused of cattle theft, he left three years later and traveled to the United States with a new name, William Roderick James.

During the next several years, he drifted and worked at several jobs. He was briefly jailed in Carson City, Nevada, for cattle rustling and took care of the prison's horses during his sentence. He then worked as a stuntman in movies and served in the U. S. Army from 1918-1919. He began selling his sketches. He was a horse wrangler for the First Annual Nevada round-Up in Reno in July 1919. He met and married Alice Conradt, while living in Reno, Nevada, in 1920 and sold his first writing, Bucking Horse Riders, in 1922. The sale of several short stories and books followed, enabling him and his wife to buy a small ranch in Washoe Valley, Nevada, where he wrote his most famous book, Smoky the Cow Horse. It was published in 1926 and won the Newbery Medal for children's literature in 1927. Several film adaptations were made of the book, with James narrating the 1933 film. His fictionalized autobiography, Lone Cowboy, was written in 1930 and was a bestselling Book-of-the-Month Club selection. He wrote his last book, The American Cowboy, in 1942. In all, he wrote and illustrated 23 books.

His later years were spent on his ranch at Pryor Creek, Montana and at his Billings home on Smoky Lane. He died in Hollywood, California, in 1942.

The largest public collection of James' writings, artwork, and personal effects is at the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Montana.

James was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame in 1991.
This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Will James", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
Total Books: 102
Scorpion a Good Bad Horse
2010 - Scorpion a Good Bad Horse (Paperback)Paperback, Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9781153148757
ISBN-10: 1153148757
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2009 - Home Ranch [World Cultural Heritage Library] (Paperback)
2009 - Lone Cowboy [World Cultural Heritage Library] (Paperback)
2009 - Celibates By Moore George 18521933 [George Augustus - World Cultural Heritage Library] (Paperback)
Scorpion  A Good Bad Horse
2008 - Scorpion a Good Bad Horse (Hardcover)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9781443731041
ISBN-10: 1443731048
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Literature & Fiction
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Smoky the Cowhorse
2008 - Smoky the Cowhorse [Illustrated Edition - Dodo Press] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781406576986
ISBN-10: 1406576980
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Out the Ball Park
2006 - Out the Ball Park [Ready or Not Here We Come] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780741433107
ISBN-10: 0741433109
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Will James' Book of Cowboy Stories
2006 - Will James' Book of Cowboy Stories [Tumbleweed] (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780878425181
ISBN-10: 0878425187
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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American Cowboy
2004 - American Cowboy [Tumbleweed] (Paperback)Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780878425020
ISBN-10: 0878425020
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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The American Cowboy
2004 - The American Cowboy [Tumbleweed] (Hardcover)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780878425013
ISBN-10: 0878425012
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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Lone Cowboy My Life Story
2004 - Lone Cowboy My Life Story (Paperback)Paperback, Hardcover, Audio Cassette
ISBN-13: 9781417917082
ISBN-10: 1417917083
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
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Sand
2004 - Sand (Paperback)Paperback, Hardcover, Audio Cassette
ISBN-13: 9781417908400
ISBN-10: 1417908408
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 1

The Drifting Cowboy
2004 - The Drifting Cowboy (Paperback)Hardcover, Audio Cassette
ISBN-13: 9781417911929
ISBN-10: 1417911921
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Cowboys North And South
2004 - Cowboys North and South (Paperback)Hardcover, Audio Cassette
ISBN-13: 9781417914401
ISBN-10: 1417914408
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Horses I'Ve Known
2004 - Horses I've Known [James, Will, Tumbleweed Series.] (Hardcover)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780878424931
ISBN-10: 0878424938
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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The Will James Cowboy Book
2003 - The Will James Cowboy Book (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780878424696
ISBN-10: 0878424695
Genres: Children's Books, Literature & Fiction
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Cowboy in the Making
2001 - Cowboy in the Making [James, Will, Tumbleweed Series.] (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780878424399
ISBN-10: 0878424393
Genres: Children's Books, Literature & Fiction
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In the Saddle With Uncle Bill
2001 - In the Saddle with Uncle Bill (Paperback)Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780878424283
ISBN-10: 0878424288
Genre: Children's Books
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BigEnough
2000 - Bigenough (Audio Cassette)
ISBN-13: 9780736659468
ISBN-10: 0736659463
Genre: General
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Young Cowboy
2000 - Young Cowboy [James, Will, Tumbleweed Series.] (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780878424191
ISBN-10: 0878424199
Genre: Children's Books
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Smoky
2000 - Smoky [Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition] (Other)
ISBN-13: 9780613844543
ISBN-10: 0613844548
Genre: Teen & Young Adult
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Cow Country
1999 - Cow Country (Audio Cassette)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780736644013
ISBN-10: 0736644016
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Three Mustangeers
1999 - Three Mustangeers [James, Will, Tumbleweed Series] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780878424016
ISBN-10: 0878424016
Genre: Literature & Fiction
  • Currently 5/5 Stars.
 1

The Three Mustangeers
1999 - The Three Mustangeers [Tumbleweed Series/Will James] (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780878424023
ISBN-10: 0878424024
Genres: Children's Books, Literature & Fiction
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1998 - All in the Day's Riding [James, Will, Tumbleweed Series.] (Paperback)Hardcover
Flint Spears Cowboy Rodeo Contestant [James, Will, Tumbleweed Series.] (Paperback)Hardcover
Looksee with Uncle Bill [James, Will, Tumbleweed Series.] (Paperback)Hardcover
My First Horse [James, Will, Tumbleweed Series.] (Hardcover)