Sailor Moo: Cow at Sea

The naturalistic accuracy of Goembel’s illustration adds to the humor of this most unusual situation, especially in the end, when a closing cameo zeroes in on Moo, Angus, and their calf Half-’n’-Half, enjoying ice-cream cones on the Jersey shore. (Picture book. 3-7)

PreS-Gr 2-"All year long, the dairy cows/would stand-and graze-and chew./ They truly were contented cows-/except for little Moo." A dainty white bovine with a pink ribbon and cowbell, she wants to go to sea, and one day waves good-bye to her mother and leaves the farm: "Yo-ho-ho/And a shiver-me-be/Whoever heard of a cow at sea?" Her adventures are related in well-paced, clever rhyme, and are meticulously and humorously illustrated in acrylics on oversized pages. The realistically anthropomorphic animals are delightful, limned in rich color and detail. Eventually, Moo meets a pirate bull, Red Angus, and reforms him. They settle along the Jersey shore and have a calf called Half-'n'-half. Sure to be a popular addition to any library, this book would be a winner in a storytime, linked up perhaps with Jack Kent's Mrs. Mooley (Golden, 2002) and Phyllis Root's Kiss the Cow! (Candlewick, 2000).-Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA Copyright 2002 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of milk? Yes, the creamy white drink plays a role in this bouncy bovine picture book, in which a cow finds adventure and true love on the high seas. Compelled to follow her dreams, dairy cow Moo leaves behind the farm's fields of waving wheat for the rollicking waves of the ocean. A stint as galley cook to the feline crew of the Cat's Meow is cut short by a storm that tosses Moo "into the brew" where she is quickly rescued by a pair of her cousins, the sea cows, and escorted to a cattle barge. But the gang with studded ears on board turns out to be a bunch of "looting steers cow buccaneers." Luckily Moo wins the heart of captain Red Angus and encourages him to abandon his pirate ways for married life on the Jersey shore. Wheeler's (Wool Gathering: A Sheep Family Reunion) rhyming verse, filled with silly cow puns, features a breathlessly outr story line. Goembel's (Hi, Pizza Man!) dusky acrylics introduce a cast of bipedal critters who teeter wildly between anthropomorphism and realism, upping the humor considerably. The goggle-sporting manatees and hook-handed cat captain Silver Claw will likely have readers giggling. Ages 3-7. (July) Copyright 2002 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.