Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. written by Doreen Cronin. illustrated by  Betsy Lewin. 40p. 2000. New York: Simon and Schuster. (006025565X). 

Author Website: www.doreencronin.com
 

Illustrator Website: www.betsylewin.com

Medium: Windsor Newton lamp black and watercolor on Strathmore watercolor paper
 

Awards and Honors: Caldecott Honor


Audience: 4 and up
 
Annotation:
Farmer Brown has a big problem when his cows find an old typewriter and begin using it to type up demands.

Personal Reaction: 
Silly, lighthearted, and a bit educational, Click, Clack, Moo, is the story of a herd of cows who find a typewriter and begin typing demands to the farmer. Farmer Brown is, of course, completely (and hilariously) flummoxed with the whole situation. After some back and forth, however, the animals and Farmer Brown come to a compromise, but we soon see that the cows have inspired the ducks to make some demands of their own. 


Click, Clack, Moo is something of a modern classic in children's literature. It's a premise that, in theory, really shouldn't work (a children's book about labor negotiations and mediation?), but ends up coming together beautifully. Betsy Lewin's loosely sketched yet bold illustrations are brilliant. The huge, sweet faced cows with their big, innocent eyes are a hilarious counterpoint to Farmer Brown with his scraggly beard and scrappy straw hat.