From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3–This unusual tale mixes circus scenery and characters with a familiar barnyard theme. On the day the cows get loose, Ida Mae is hanging upside down in an apple tree, dreamin' about how to git famous. Pa asks her to find their 26 roaming bovines, and, although Ida Mae rights herself to start her search, the story continues to feel topsy-turvy. The animals' names span from A to Z, but the cows are not listed or discovered in alphabetical order. In fact, it is difficult to know when all the missing animals are found. Rendered in a combination of watercolor, colored pencil, and pen and ink, the energetic illustrations add to the chaos. From the front cover to the back, cows practically jump off the pages, performing circuslike antics such as juggling, flying on trapezes, and walking a tightrope. Ida Mae's family and neighbors are equally unconventional. She lives in a dilapidated trailer Fun House, rides a plumed zebra, and visits a bearded lady and a fire-swallowing man during the roundup. At story's end, she can finally see her way to fame, envisioning Ida Mae's Bovine Big Top. The busy illustrations and zany action will have some readers reeling in confusion, while others will be reeling with laughter. A selection best suited for individual or one-to-one reading.
–Carolyn Janssen, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PreS-Gr. 2. Wild, nostalgic illustrations steal the show in this circus tall tale about exceptionally talented cows. When a family of big-top performers' eccentric cow herd is on the loose, it's young Ida Mae's job to perform the roundup. Each spread gleefully reveals that the cows have picked up plenty of tricks from their owners. Some are found juggling cabbages; one balances atop a stack of chairs; others gracefully perform a synchronized swimming routine in a nearby mansion's pool. Ida Mae narrates in a droll, colloquial voice ("This is gooder 'n grits!"), and the tension between what her words leave out and what the pictures show makes most of the fun. The phrase "Ma was out back choppin' a load of wood," for example, is matched with an image of Ma, in evening gown and gloves, wielding multiple axes with the expertise of a knife thrower to whittle down a tree stump. This may be more situation than story, but the expressive mixed-media images, reminiscent of David Small's work, will easily draw interest, giggles, and requests for repeated viewings. For another look at misbehaving bovines, see Suzy Becker's
Manny's Cows,^B reviewed on p.80.
Gillian EngbergCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
