Moo, Moo, Brown Cow! Have You any Milk?

April 25, 2011
In a story that's part lullaby, part concept book, with its gentle emphasis on colors, animals, and their sounds, Gershator (Who's Awake in Springtime) riffs on "Baa Baa Black Sheep" to explore a farm boy's day. "Buzz, buzz, yellow bee!/ Have you any honey?/ âYes, sir, yes, sir,/ sweet and sunny.' " Each quatrain introducing a new animal is followed by another that explains what the creature provides: "Does sun-sweet honey make a tasty spread?/ âYes, sir, yes, sir,' the yellow bee said." Potter's (The Little Piano Girl) characteristically naïf illustrations play up the whimsy of the interactions; the bee, for instance, uses a honey dipper to provide the aforementioned "tasty spread," and the boy sits on a sweeping expanse of wool that the sheep knits while sitting in an armchair. The progression of events (yielding a blanket, pillow, and snack) naturally leads to bedtime, and a final scene, in which the animals appear as stuffed toys in the boy's bed (or, in the case of the bees, a mobile), leaves readers to ponder just how much of the day's adventures might have been imagined. Ages 2â5.

June 1, 2011

Through creative tweaking, a familiar nursery rhyme, "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep," returns as a cadenced lesson in farmyard enterprise as well as a comforting bedtime lullaby.

A farm boy asks, "Baa, baa, black sheep! Have you any wool?" The sheep predictably replies, "Yes, sir, yes, sir, three bags full." Will the wool make a blanket for his bed? "Yes sir, yes, sir," the black sheep assures him. The boy queries, "Honk, honk, gray goose! Have you any down?" and the goose responds, "Yes, sir, yes, sir, half a pound." Will the down make a pillow for his head?  Of course. Progressing through the farmyard, the boy asks the red hen for eggs to make bread, the yellow bee for honey for a spread and the brown cow for milk to drink before bed. After eating bread with honey and drinking the milk, the boy falls asleep with the wool blanket and down pillow while his farmyard friends dream of more "flowers to sip" and "grass to chew." Primitive, folksy, multi-hued illustrations expand the pleasantly repetitive, rhyming text by showing the sheep knitting a blanket, the goose flapping feathers for a pillow, the red hen using eggs to make bread, the bee spreading honey on bread and the cow watching the boy drink her milk.

Farmyard industry becomes a bedtime soporific. (Picture book. 2-6) 

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

June 1, 2011

PreS-K-A boy in overalls roams around a farm to chat with a cow, sheep, goose, hen, and bee. Upon request, he receives milk, wool, down, eggs, and honey. After a bedtime glass of milk, the curly-haired child cuddles with toys (that match his animal pals) and they gaze at a hive mobile above his bed. Gershator uses rhyme and the melodic rhythm of "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" in her dialogue, making the tale fit for either singing or speaking. Potter uses soft colors for day and rich cobalt and chocolate for night in her folksy paintings. She features only essential background details, complementing the text for this soothing book.-Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2011
Preschool-G Borrowing a soothing cadence as well as the first two lines from a certain familiar nursery rhyme, Gershator expands the original into a short but effectively soporific bedtime ritual. In her customary primitivist style and muted colors, Potter depicts a moon-faced rural lad with faraway eyes questioning a sheep (Does wool make a blanket for my bed?' / Yes, sir, yes, sir, ' the black sheep said); then, in similar fashion, a goose, a hen, bees, and a cow, who give him, respectively, down for a pillow, eggs for bread, honey to pour on the bread, and fresh milk to go with the snack. The animals all proceed to settle down in their own farmyard places before transforming into plush bedside companions for the child. He poses a final question (May I dream with you?) before a closing scene of the cow jumping over the moon in a last visual nod to Mother Goose. Listeners will likely be nodding off by this point, especially if this book is paired with the author's bedtime riff on Little Red Hen, Who's Awake in Springtime? (2010).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2011
This riff on the traditional nursery rhyme "Baa Baa Black Sheep" retains the familiar rhythm for some of the lines ("Honk, honk, gray goose, have you any down? / 'Yes, sir, yes, sir, half a pound'") but adopts a slightly different pattern, which nonetheless scans well, for the rest ("Does down make a pillow for my head? / 'Yes, sir, yes, sir,' the gray goose said"). Consequently, adults reading this with very young children will need to be on their metrical toes. Not really a problem, because Gershator's rhymes tell an engaging bedtime story that is enriched by Potter's parallel visual narrative. A small boy asks five animals (including a cow and a bee) what they can offer, concentrating on items that will help him go to sleep. Alert youngsters will notice at the end that all these animals, either stuffed or revolving over his bed in a mobile, are his nighttime companions. Potter's uncluttered illustrations carry the minimalist narrative thread but also add humor. For example, a chicken, outfitted with an apron, oversees the boy's bread-making (she gave him eggs), and a sheep furiously knits a blanket for the boy's bed. The story's familiar pattern leads quietly to dreamland: "Sleep tight, farm friends. / May I dream with you? / 'Yes, sir, yes, sir, yes, please do.'" betty carter

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2012
In this riff on "Baa Baa Black Sheep," a boy asks five animals what items they can offer to help him sleep. The tale's familiar pattern leads quietly to dreamland. Gershator tells an engaging bedtime story enriched by Potter's parallel visual narrative. Uncluttered illustrations carry the minimalist thread while also adding humor to the rhymed text.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)