When Cows Come Home - Softcover

David L. Harrison

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1563979462 ISBN 13: 9781563979460

Publisher: Boyds Mills Press, 2001

Synopsis

Boyds Mills Press publishes a wide range of high-quality fiction and nonfiction picture books, chapter books, novels, and nonfiction

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Memorable stanzas and animated spreads jazz up this look at the silly things cows just might do when people stop paying attention to them. "You never saw / Such cow horseplay / When Farmer looks / The other way!" writes Harrison ( Somebody Catch My Homework ) as several holsteins peek expectantly around the corner of a barn door. Liberated from Farmer's watchful eye, the members of the herd pedal bicycles, swim in a pond and clown around with some braying donkeys. Although Harrison's litany of heifer high jinks sags a bit in the middle, rhyme and repetition subtly encourage beginning readers to recognize and practice key words. Demarest's ( Smart Dog ; My Little Red Car ) splashy watercolors lend a sense of playful motion and fluidity to his characters; the cows--who, modestly, have only the barest suggestion of udders--execute nary a clumsy move and appear practically weightless as they finally "swish their tails / And gently sway / . . . / And head for home / In a cowlike way." A bright, appealing volume with a mischievous nature. Ages 2-8.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

The author of Somebody Catch My Homework (1990) brings his skillful versifying to a slight, silly tale about a herd of cows straying from their homeward way at day's end (``But if Farmer looks/The other way,/Cows take off/On a holiday!/You never saw/Such cow horseplay...'' Whimsically depicted in airily limned illustrations splashed with sunset-hued watercolors, the errant cows trip a light fantastic while they play tag, square dance, and ``hitch their bikes/To Farmer's sleigh/To pull their babies/As they play.'' They're about to escape out the gate when they spy Farmer and suddenly ``head for home/In a cowlike way'' after all. Presuming that the cows are surrogates for rambunctious children who really do come home eventually, the story works well enough; but the escapade is less apt, and not as funny, without a stronger parallel to real cows (who need to be milked when it's time). Still, the merry rhyming and the illustrations' blithe abandon may make this an effective storytime diversion. (Picture book. 4-7) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Boyds Mills Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1563979462
• ISBN 13: 9781563979460
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Chris L. Demarest