No Moon, No Milk! [Paperback]

Chris Babcock (Author), Mark Teague (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up

Illus. in full color. "In this hilarious tale, Rob comes out one morning to find that his cow Martha is 'udderly' bored with her life. 'It's eat grass, get milked. Eat grass, get milked.' Martha wants more. In fact, she wants to walk on the moon. Teague's ebullient artwork captures a very determined cow in a variety of decidedly uncowlike settings and he illustrates them all with humor and panache. Although the story-hour set will get most of the jokes, slightly older children will be the most amused."--Booklist.  

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 4-When Rob comes for milk, Martha, his rather histrionic cow, reveals her boredom with eating grass and her desire to become a "'cowsmonaut'" and journey to the moon. Folding her hooves across her chest, she states emphatically, "'No moon, no milk.'" Rob tries to distract her with a series of earthly tourist jaunts: surfing at Venice Beach ("'Hang ten, Martha'"), exploring Crater Lake National Park, even a trip to Radio City Music Hall ("'Not the rockets, Martha. Rockettes!'"). Vowing to reach the moon on her own, Martha stampedes through the streets of New York City, finally arriving at the American Museum of Natural History, where she dons a space helmet and proudly walks on a replica of the lunar surface. Tongue-in-cheek humor, clever wordplay, and offbeat asides make for a lively text. Teague's lush, deeply colored paintings feature textured brushstrokes. A carefully balanced layout alternates full-page illustrations with smaller vignettes. Whether depicting the adventurous cow perched precariously on a surfboard, or hinting at the famous photograph as Martha stands on the "moon" holding the American flag, Teague makes the most of each funny situation. Read this along with Lisa Ernst's When Bluebell Sang (Bradbury, 1989) for an entertaining story time about bovines.
Joy Fleishhacker, New York Public Library
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

Illus. in full color. "In this hilarious tale, Rob comes out one morning to find that his cow Martha is 'udderly' bored with her life. 'It's eat grass, get milked. Eat grass, get milked.' Martha wants more. In fact, she wants to walk on the moon. Teague's ebullient artwork captures a very determined cow in a variety of decidedly uncowlike settings and he illustrates them all with humor and panache. Although the story-hour set will get most of the jokes, slightly older children will be the most amused."--Booklist.  

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Dragonfly Books (July 10, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517885409
• ISBN-13: 978-0517885406
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.5 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #316,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is the Grass Always Greener?, April 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: No Moon, No Milk! (Paperback)

All Martha the Cow wants to do is visit the moon. After all, she comes from a bovine line who have become famous for their lunar exploits! Her adventures are amusing, and Mark Teague's illustrations make them absolutely hilarious! In the end, however, Martha arrives at that age-old conclusion: The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the galaxy!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT WORD PLAY AND A LOVEABLE STUBORN COW, October 22, 2011

By 

D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: No Moon, No Milk! (Paperback)

Martha is sad. Martha is disgruntled. Martha refuses to give milk...."her udder was dry and her eyes were wet." Martha is not a happy milk cow. Rob the farmer and apparently Martha's best friend questions the rather stubborn bovine and finds that she is bored and wants to do more "than cow around in a pasture all my life." It seems that Martha's grandmother was the fabled cow that jumped over the moon and Martha, in her turn, also wants to go to the moon! "No Moon, No Milk," she informs Rob.

And so the journey and adventure begins.

Poor Rob tries every thing from surfing at Venice Beach in Southern California, visiting Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, visiting Radio City Music Hall in New York to see the "Rockets," (Get it...Rockets...like as in moon rockets).

Will Rob ever make Martha be happy? Perhaps a trip to the American Museum of Natural History will work..."A science moooseum" where they have a mock-up of the lunar surface. We shall see.

This is a delightfully funny book which is full of cow word play. Martha is a rather loveable cow who know what she want (anyway, she thinks she does) and a very dedicated farmer friend.

The artwork is quite well done and ranges from cute to truly funny. It blends quite well with the text so you not only get a verbal joke and story, but also a visual one.

This is an ideal work for a group read. I have yet to find a kid that did not enjoy it. As a matter of fact, I have yet to find an adult that did not enjoy it as much as the kids!

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun for everyone!, April 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: No Moon, No Milk! (Paperback)

This is a great book for children of all ages! As an early childhood educator, I have found this book to amusing and educational. After all, if Martha gets to vist the moon in the "moo"seum, why shouldn't everyone?