When Cows Come Home

Lively illustrations and nonsense rhymes capture scenes of boisterous merriment as silly cows run off to fiddle, dance, play tag, and have all sorts of fun as soon as the farmer turns his back. Reprint.

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.