MOO WHO?

By Margie Plalatini
Illustrated by Keith Graves
Harper Collins Publishers 2004
Ages 4-8
About 31 pages
Picture Book

This book is a great source of humor. It is filled with beautiful art work of fun interpretations of barn animals. The colors are bright and fun off center lines. This book is about a dear cow named Hilda Mae Heifer. She is quite the singer and those around her find her quite obnoxious. So one day while she is out to pasture she is hit in the head with a cow pie. When she comes to she doesn't not know who she is. So she goes around the barn yard mimicking all the animals. As she does so they try to explain to her that she is mistaken because she is a cow. As each explains their differences with Hilda she tries to get her Moo back. But she is unsure how to make the proper sound. As she gets down to it she has been practicing and she recognizes her own beautiful voice, however, everyone else gets ear plugs. It has a fun little moral in which we should all realize our own potetial and do our best to be the best we can. Even if we see different or annoying because of our talents!

Reaction:
I loved this book more than most picture books I pick up. It left a lot to imagenation. I was ablet to do a silly accent while I read and really enjoy the story. The writing was fun with a little rhythem and so really fun words to relate with animals. I loved the art work. It just pulled me in and I couldn't help but want a copy for myself.

Potential Problems:
I don't think there are any, unless a parent didn't like the fact someone threw a chunk of poop at her( i mean cow pie).

Recommendations:
I think children that love farm animals would love getting aquanted with animals this way. We learn about what they do and what they are like as we try to learn about Hilda. It would be fun for all kids to see that it doesn't matter what others think, if you want to do something that sounds crazy, it's okay.