CLICK, CLACK, MOO – COWS THAT TYPE – View on Amazon
by Doreen Cronin; illustrated by Betsy Lewin; published (2000) by Simon & Shuster
Click, clack, moo. Click, clack, moo. Clickety, clack, moo.
Farmer Brown has a problem. He has a farm and on that farm there are some cows and those cows – believe it or not – can type !
Dear Farmer Brown,
The barn is very cold at night. We’d like some electric blankets.
Sincerely,
The Cows
“Impossible!” thinks Farmer Brown.
Stubbornly, he decides “No way!”. There shall be NO electric blankets and that is THAT.
The cows are miffed. And the cows respond.
Click, clack, moo. Click, clack, moo. Clickety, clack, moo.
“Sorry. We’re closed. No milk today.”
Besides, “The hens are cold too. They’d like electric blankets.”
Farmer Brown is at his wits end. He can’t run a farm without milk and will NOT be had by cows on strike! No electric blankets is his absolute stance and, in retaliation, the hens withhold their eggs. It has come to a stalemate where neither party will budge and there is an urgent need for arbitration, when in comes Duck, the neutral party, waddling back and forth from farmer to barn with a typed ultimatum from the one side and more typed notes from the other. When a deal is struck, it’s a dandy deal for the critters and a duck-load of trouble for Farmer Brown!
This is definitely one smart and outrageous plot, cutely illustrated by Betsy Lewin. Other than the use of grown-up words like ‘strike’ and ‘neutral party’ and ‘ultimatum’, the book is an easy read and it’s imaginative and silly and well-paced, with THE most unusual premise. I thinks some writers have the neatest ideas!
More from Doreen Cronin? Her website here.
Don’t forget the funny, funny Betsy Lewin.
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