The COW SAID BOO! Laughs Guaranteed!

PAJAMA PRESS, 2021

My sincere wish for us all is that none shall suffer a summer cold. But in case you do, here's a picture book with a fun spin on sneezing. THE COW SAID BOO!  is written by Lara Button and illustrated by Alice Carter. 

There are plenty of visual cues to make this a great title to add to your fall/Halloween collection, and it's a terrific variant on the typical ghost story. Even so, I love it as a summer read. Farm trips, day camps, pick-your-own berry outings, and even car trips with counting cows (people still do that, right?) invite books about cows. 

In this case, when COW has a cold and tires to say MOO!  it comes out BOO!  As someone who is overcome by sneezes (even when not caused by a cold) I loved that COW's sneezing sends her stumbling and bumbling into a sheet on a clothesline, and ... you can guess from there, can't you?

In this case the brightly colorful and cartoonish characters ands settings invite little ones to cock-a-doodle along, and recognize that something unknown can be scary. Sometimes even friends  we know can seem not quite themselves. The humor in images invites repeated readings and reading-along, eventually showing  a highly satisfying benefit to this poor cows condition. This is a picture book without guise or glamour, without intentional or implied messages, but one whose fun and frolic involve lively language, loyalty, and laughter.

For a paired reading, be sure to read  BOB, NOT BOB! by Liz Garton Scanlon.

LITTLE, BROWN BYR, 2017

 A boy with a cold is mispronouncing loads of words, starting with MOM! The fun and clever writing is no surprise (it's by Liz Scanlon!) so it's a highly recommended choice for word play and evoking some serious laughter (is that an oxymoron?). If you or kiddos you know are dealing with stuffed noses, both books are MUST HAVES. 

Or even if you're not! 

Both are read-aloud delights, especially for those who like to ham it up!