Moo Hoo

by Candace Ryan, Mike Lowery (Illustrator)

Overview

This adorable story full of onomatopoeia, about making new friends and keeping the old will have readers saying, "WOO HOO!"

Cow and Owl are best friends. MOO HOO! They do everything together, like make music (TWO COO) and go trick-or-treating together (BOO! BOO!). But when a strange playmate shows up (ROO NEW), they will discover that three is better than two (NEW TRUE CREW).

From the team that brought you the adorable hit Ribbit Rabbit, Moo Hoo combines another spare and effortlessly clever text with retro and eye-catching illustrations, and is sure to delight young readers and their parents alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781547605965
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	01/05/2021
Pages:	26
Product dimensions:	5.95(w) x 6.42(h) x 0.53(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Candace Ryan is also the author of Animal House, Zoo Zoom!, Moo Hoo, Ribbit Rabbit, Red Light, Green Lion, and Ewe and Eye. She spent nine years as a special education teacher and now lives in Southern California with her husband and son.
@CandaceRyan www.candaceryanbooks.com

Mike Lowery is an illustrator, fine artist, and graphic designer. He is the illustrator of Jo Nesbo's novel Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder, the Gingerbread Man Loose series, and Ken Jennings' Young Genius Guides. He is also a professor of illustration at the Savannah College of Art and Design. He lives in Georgia.
@MikeLoweryStudio www.mikelowery.com

Editorial Reviews

A winning display of finding the high ground and paved with particularly sweet verbal compression.” —Kirkus reviews on MOO HOO

“The rhythmic, onomatopoeic text is a pretty music, the kind of song you'd sing in the dark to lift your spirits. Equally joyful and engaging-and that's a tall order-is Lowery's artwork. . . . A mingling of the ridiculous with the sublime for a spellbinding effect.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review of RIBBIT RABBIT

“This economy of language makes it ideal for reading aloud or for beginning readers. However, the illustrations marry well with the text, and fill in the narrative where the writing leaves it open.” —SLJ on RIBBIT RABBIT

“Ryan has so much fun coming up with increasingly ridiculous wildlife . . . this book will stand up to multiple rereadings.” —Kirkus Reviews on ANIMAL HOUSE

“The use of portmanteau is clever, and the large, acrylic illustrations are imaginative, bringing each part of the animal house to life.” —SLJ on ANIMAL HOUSE

From the Publisher

Ryan and Lowery follow their frog-and-bunny show, Ribbit Rabbit (2011), with another tale of beastie besties. Cow and Owl, who love superheroes as much as their predecessors loved robots, are inseparable: “They fix things together. Moo hoo. Glue shoe,” and they share a double “Boo!” on Halloween. “But when Kangaroo shows up, Moo hoo. Roo new. They don’t know what to do. Moo hoo. Who you?” Despite Kangaroo’s plea to join them (“Roo too?” the newcomer asks), Cow and Owl look the other way. Only later does it dawn on them that a third party might enliven their pastimes. Lowery combines screenprinting and digital techniques to craft rough-hewn, childlike illustrations on flat, muted backgrounds; as Cow and Owl look for Kangaroo, tracing a dotted line through a treed backyard, Ribbit Rabbit’s joined-at-the-hip duo makes a cameo appearance to shrug, “Roo who?” Ryan’s monosyllabic conclusion—“Moo Hoo Roo. New True Crew”—serves as the happy wrapup. Emphasizing simplicity and sound, Ryan and Lowery cover the basics of friendship. Ages 3–6. Agent: Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Illustrator’s agent: Deborah Warren, East West Literary Agency. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

It comes as a delight how much fun can be wrung from the words "moo" and "hoo." Cow and Owl are young chums (and bear a keen resemblance to Frog and Rabbit, the spawn of Ryan and Lowery's terrific first collaboration, Ribbit Rabbit, 2011). Being what they are, the words moo and hoo spin freely in their orbit and trigger like words depending on what they are doing. They fix things together: "Moo Hoo. Glue Shoe." They trick-or-treat together: "Moo Hoo. Boo! Boo!" Although Ryan fills in some narrative context, it is these tiny, rhymed sound-words that express the emotional range of the story, which is whopping in its brevity (aided and abetted by Lowery's dear, spindly creatures, with their disarming gestures and primitive toys). When a young kangaroo enters the scene--"Who you?" "Roo new"--Cow and Owl are standoffish. Roo wants to join in--"Roo too?"--but no deal. "Roo blue." It breaks your heart. Cow and Owl do see the error in their ways, and Kangaroo enters the fold. "Woo hoo!" A winning display of finding the high ground and paved with particularly sweet verbal compression. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews