Day 53: Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type

"Farmer Brown has a problem.  His cows like to type.  All day long he hears click, clack, moo.  Click, clack, moo.  Clickety, clack, moo."  This fun, witty story had my son laughing from page one!  My husband and I find it hilarious, too, and we all just love reading it together.  My son loves the silliness of the whole story and can't wait to sing out "click, clack, moo.  Click, clack, moo.  Clickety, clack, moo!" as exuberantly as he can.  And cows that type?  He finds that quite hysterical in itself.   What are they typing about?  Oh, those crafty cows don't just type any old message to Farmer Brown.    The barns are cold, so along with the hens, the cows decide they need electric blankets to keep them warm at night.  When Farmer Brown dismisses their request, they go on strike, leaving a new note on the barn door: "Closed.  No milk.  No eggs."  The story and result of the ensuing negotiations is fantastically funny and bound to make both you and your child laugh outloud.   Betsy Lewin's illustrations have a fun, cartoon-like quality to them, and seem to fit Doreen Cronin's story line perfectly.  I also love how Cronin interjects more complicated vocabulary in the middle of what is otherwise a rather simple text:  "Duck was a neutral party, so he brought the ultimatum to the cows."   It makes my son (and us!) laugh and want to read it again and again, which is really all we can ask for in a book sometimes.  You could use this story to talk with your child about what it means to negotiate and compromise (something we, as parents, all find ourselves doing with our children -- perhaps more often than we would like!) but whether you read it just for fun or look for a lesson in the story, it's a great, silly read that children and adults are bound to love.