The Cow That Laid an Egg

K-Gr 2Marjorie has no special talents like the rest of the herd, so the chickens hatch a plan. One morning, Marjorie shrieks, "I've laid an egg!" In a clever story line, the bovine endures the taunts of the suspicious cows and the support of the ever-present, silent chickens, until the egg finally hatches a chick with an astonishing "moo" voice. Cutbill's writing is spare and amusing, and Ayto's goofy, mixed-media collages are a perfect match. Featuring expressive, wide-eyed, eccentric characters, the colorful spreads picture vivid body language, spiraling lines in wide-open mouths, and naive design. This funny book, reminiscent of Dr. Seuss's "Horton Hatches the Egg" (Random, 1940), will delight children."Lee Bock, Glenbrook Elementary School, Pulaski, WI" Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

In this barnyard trifle, Marjorie the cow feels low because she can't ride bicycles and do handstands like the other cows. Her pals the chickens put their heads together, and a miracle occurs. The Holstein finds a small black-and-white spotted egg in her stall and proudly takes credit for it. Paparazzi flock to the farm, yet Marjorie's fellow heifers suspect the crafty chickens. Readers have reason to believe the cows when a small, brown, feathery bundle emergesthat is, until the hatchling says, Moooo! Cutbill (the Albie books) provides a silly surprise with this punch line, the high point in a studiously whimsical book. Ayto ("The Witch's Children"), working in pen-and-ink and watercolor with paper collage to match Cutbill's determined nuttiness, depicts Marjorie as a doting, bipedal type, with heavy lashes surrounding her doleful blue eyes and a flower tucked behind her ear. A few spreads show panache, as in a view of the chickens in their stacked roosts that looks like a spread of comic-book panels, but there's not much to pull kids back for seconds after the single joke has been delivered. Ages 4-8. "(Feb.)" Copyright 2008 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.