NEW SERIAL BEGINS TODAY IN LEARNING SECTION

A smelly, smart-aleck, self-proclaimed Head of Ranch Security will give Southeast Missourian readers a glimpse into western Texas ranch life today in the newspaper's Learning section.

Hank the Cowdog and his partner, Drover, are looking for a watermelon patch raider in "The Case of the Watermelon Patch Mystery." The duo must avoid being implicated as they try to protect Sally May's watermelon patch from the nightly intruder.

"The Case of the Watermelon Patch Mystery" will appear over the next 14 weeks as part of the Newspapers In Education (NIE) program. It is the second serial in the popular "Hank the Cowdog" book and audio tape series written by former cowboy and ranch manager John R. Erickson of Perryton, Texas. The series, which details the misadventures of -- who else? -- Hank the Cowdog, is illustrated by Gerald L. Holmes.

"It's basically telling the story from the point of view of a dog who's full of ego and bravery and not a lot of smarts," said Jody B. Logsdon, Erickson's manager.

Erickson's first serialized story, "The Case of the Dancing Cowboy," was included in the Sept. 12, special-edition Youth Education Literacy Learning (YELL) newspaper. Erickson first donated that series to newspapers across the nation three years ago as an effort to increase literacy.

"One of the things that John finds most important is that literacy needs to be stressed," Logsdon said. "He did this because if we can get kids used to reading the newspaper, they'll stick to reading. He wants to get newspapers to be something they can enjoy."

The "Hank the Cowdog" stories originally were written for adults but quickly became a favorite of children, librarians and teachers, said Logsdon. In all, there are 36 "Hank the Cowdog" books in print, including "The Case of the Raging Rottweiler" released just last week.

The series has received numerous awards and is a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. The series targets children who read on a third-to-sixth grade level.

The Southeast Missourian's NIE program distributes some 2,800 papers each Tuesday during the school year to YELL schools in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City. Both private and public schools benefit from the program.

For more information about the Hank the Cowdog series, visit the Internet Web site www.hankthecowboy.com..