Moo!

by David LaRochelle, Mike Wohnoutka (Illustrator)

Overview

This utterly clever and fun story is the perfect read aloud!

When Cow gets her hooves on the farmer’s car, she takes it for a wild ride through the country. Moooo! But a bump in the road brings this joy ride to a troublesome end. Moo-moo. . . . Has Cow learned her lesson about living life in the fast lane? Moo?

The Geisel Award winning creators tell a complete story with just one word—MOO—in this imaginative story that will have readers laughing one moment and on the edge of their seats the next, as it captures the highs and lows of a mischievous cow’s very exciting day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802738028
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	11/04/2014
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	244,161
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 6.40(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

David Larochelle has been writing and illustrating books since 1988. His books include The End, which received four starred reviews and The Best Pet of All, which received two starred reviews. His other titles have won numerous awards, including the Sid Fleischman Humor Award, the SCBWI Golden Kite Honor Award, and the Minnesota Book Award. A former elementary school teacher, David enjoys solving puzzles, playing board games, and carving creative pumpkins, which you can view at his website. www.davidlarochelle.com

Mike Wohnoutka is the illustrator of Can't Sleep Without Sheep, Jack's House, Cowboy Sam and Those Confounded Secrets, and The Wizzy Foot. A graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, Mike lives with his wife and two children in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
www.mikewohnoutka.com

Editorial Reviews

This book is bold, original, and funny, and should be part of every picture-book collection.” —School Library Journal, starred review

“An utterly fun moo-aloud.” —Publishers Weekly

“Good barnyard fun, with nods to Mo Willems' aspirational Pigeon and Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin's enterprising Duck.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A delightful visual adventure, easy to pair with Nancy E. Shaw and Margot Apple's Sheep in a Jeep (1988) and open to many sessions of independent rereading.” —Booklist

From the Publisher

Everyone secretly wants a sharp red sports car to drive around—including, apparently, one otherwise unassuming dairy cow. Her interest is piqued when her farmer puts his red car out on display with a sign that reads, “Car for Sale.” “Moo?” the cow asks curiously; the second the farmer is out of sight, she shouts another “Moo!” and leaps into the driver’s seat. “Moooooooo...” she croons happily as she tools along through green hills. “Moooo!” she cries in triumph, all four wheels off the ground. Risky? You bet! “Moo-moo,” says the cow, dismayed, as the car hurtles toward a curve. She has some explaining to do to the cop whose patrol car she totals. “Moo-moo! Moo moo-moo moo!” The cow’s one-word vocabulary is a great comic device, but Wohnoutka (Just Like My Papa) produces plenty of laughs, too, with big, bold graphics and comic book–style exclamations that even kids in the back row can see. When the cow attempts to shift blame to another animal, LaRochelle (How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans) briefly lets her change her tune. An utterly fun moo-aloud. Ages 3–6. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 2—There are only a handful of words in this book; the most important one is "Moo." Punctuation, repetition, and rhythm give it multiple meanings as readers turn the pages, which are joyfully illustrated with splashy gouache primary colors. It is hard to imagine a more expressive cow than this title's cartoon bovine. On the first page, the cow has a contented, peaceful moo. Turn a page, and she has an inquisitive, "Moo?" when she sees a car for sale; soon enough, she's on a joyride up and down the hillsides. The cow is the focus of each bright, borderless spread, and some pages include comedic close-ups of her face. The word "moo" appears on most spreads in a variety of font sizes, from tiny to gigantic, depending on the emotion of the moment. Children will laugh at the use of type and the artful arrangement of letters to convey action and sound. For example, when the cow drives off a cliff, her moo arcs up and then loops down, indicating the rise and fall of her bellow. For many children, this book will be their first introduction to punctuation. Even the very young will see how exclamation points and dashes can create a choppy, nervous feeling when the cow is confronted by a police officer. This book is bold, original, and funny, and should be part of every picture-book collection.—Jess deCourcy Hinds, Bard High School Early College, Queens, NY

School Library Journal

A venturesome cow sneaks off in her farmer's red car, with decidedly bumpy results. Said cow, brown and white and wearing a bell, notices that the farmer's put a "Car for Sale" sign on his vehicle. Leaping at the opportunity, she motors off on a joy ride, but the joy lasts a mere four pages. Out of control, car and cow careen off a cliff and crunch another car. A page turn reveals worse news: The crushed car is a police vehicle, and the perturbed cop's standing nearby. The titular word is extensively employed in the text; one extremely long "Mooooooo" undulates over the hills in the wake of the car as the cow sets out, and her excuse is delivered to the policeman in a string of 28 of 'em. Ordered back to her pasture, where she encounters the farmer, the cow fingers an innocent bystander with a one-word accusation: "Baaaaa!" Wohnoutka's cheery, cartoonish gouache pictures deliver the action accessibly enough for toddlers to enjoy, while new readers will ace the simple text and get the broad jokes. Good barnyard fun, with nods to Mo Willems' aspirational Pigeon and Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin's enterprising Duck. (Picture book. 2-6)

Kirkus Reviews