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.

PreSchool-Grade 1-"When cows come home at the end of the day,/They swish their tails and gently sway," behaving in a most "cowlike way." When Farmer turns his back, however, his bovine herd kicks up its heels and has a rollicking good time playing tag, fiddling, dancing, biking, and swimming. As the beasts return to the barn, though, they once again act like cows. With a tweak of illustrative humor at the end, Farmer winks at readers-he knows what those cows have been up to all day. The romping activity of the expansive, cartoonlike watercolor illustrations fully complements the motion in the rhythmic and evocative text. With the exception of a few difficult words, beginning readers will find this to be pure fun to read on their own, and younger children will enjoy listening to it.
Mary Lou Budd, Milford South Elementary School, OH
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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.

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.

Ages 3-6. "When cows come home / At the end of the day, / They switch their tails and gently sway." At least, that's what they do when the farmer is looking. When he's not looking, they play tag, fiddle on fiddles, swim in the pond, and somersault in the fields. Demarest's tremendously appealing watercolor cartoons picture the carousing cows dancing through Harrison's rhyme with cheerful abandon and abundant good humor. Text and illustrations lend themselves to reading aloud to groups, and young children will have a great time creatively dramatizing the boisterous bovines. Janice Del Negro