Amazon.com Review
Never. Not a chance. Annalisa wouldn't dream of kissing Luella the cow, even though her mother kisses her every day after singing her a song and milking her. Still, inquisitive Annalisa is awfully interested in milking Luella, and one day she sneaks off and does everything just the way her mother does--all except for the kiss on the nose. The next day, Luella refuses to give any milk. And the day after that is the same. Annalisa's mother and her many brothers and sisters beg the stubborn little girl to relent, but Annalisa says "Never!... Never, never, never." Will the whole family have to live without milk and cheese forever? Or will Annalisa's innate curiosity get the best of her?
Both Phyllis Root and Will Hillenbrand claim to have tried to kiss cows while working on this story, but to no avail. "I was willing," Hillenbrand says, "but the cow wasn't." With red-haired Annalisa's little nose in the air throughout the story, readers will almost hear her cries of "never," and will surely identify with one whose feelings of absolute certainty can occasionally change. (Ages 4 to 7) --Emilie Coulter
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Mama May has "so many children she couldn't count them all." Annalisa, the most curious and stubborn of the bunch, is never too far from Mama May's side. The red-headed pony-tailed girl observes how Mama May coaxes daily buckets of milk from Luella the cow using soothing words and, to Annalisa's disgust, a kiss on the nose. Eager to learn if she, too, can yield milk from Luella, Annalisa imitates Mama May to the letterDuntil it's time to pucker up. Annalisa's refusal to deliver a bovine buss causes chaosDLuella won't provide any milk and that means lots of "hungry, crying children." Root's (Aunt Nancy and Old Man Trouble) original comic folktale clips along at a jaunty read-aloud pace, befitting the eccentric Mama May and her boisterous brood. Hillenbrand (Down by the Station; The House That Drac Built) obviously delights in depicting the extensive family's full-to-bursting life in his sunny mixed-media paintings. Mama May's "house" is a ramshackle collection of small buildings and add-ons that stretches across a full spread (or as Root describes, "as wide as the prairie"). But best of all are the matriarch's sweet countenance and her passel of childrenDa virtual United Nations of race and nationality, all clad in denim overalls. Youngsters will be rooting right along with them for Annalisa to kiss the cow and save the day. Ages 4-8. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
