Reena and her younger brother are excited about their family’s decision to leave the city for a new life in Maine—until their parents volunteer them to help grumpy Mrs. Falala with her obstinate cow, Zora. With MOO’s small cast of characters and Sharon Creech's customary poetic frugality with words, the importance of the audiobook’s narration quality is outsized. Brittany Pressley's youthful voice is perfect for the two siblings. She also does a fair job with Maine accents, though she struggles with Mrs. Falala’s Italian one. Still, Pressley sets a believable mood. As the siblings gain skill with Zora, we hear them grow in confidence, and we hear the proportional softening of Mrs. Falala. Zora plays a major role; her oft-repeated line is a surprisingly diminutive, "moo." L.T. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
Moo: A Novel
Narrated by Brittany Pressley
Sharon CreechUnabridged — 2 hours, 19 minutes
Moo: A Novel
Narrated by Brittany Pressley
Sharon CreechUnabridged — 2 hours, 19 minutes
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Overview
This uplifting New York Times bestseller reminds us that if we're open to new experiences, life is full of surprises.
Fans of Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech's Love That Dog and Hate That Cat will love her newest tween novel, Moo. Following one family's momentous move from the city to rural Maine, an unexpected bond develops between twelve-year-old Reena and one very ornery cow.
When Reena, her little brother, Luke, and their parents first move to Maine, Reena doesn't know what to expect. She's ready for beaches, blueberries, and all the lobster she can eat. Instead, her parents “volunteer” Reena and Luke to work for an eccentric neighbor named Mrs. Falala, who has a pig named Paulie, a cat named China, a snake named Edna-and that stubborn cow, Zora.
This heartwarming story, told in a blend of poetry and prose, reveals the bonds that emerge when we let others into our lives.
Editorial Reviews
★ 05/16/2016
In a book that could have easily been titled Love That Cow (or Hate That Cow, actually) Newbery Medalist Creech uses short chapters that blend poems and prose to trace a displaced city girl’s adjustment to life in a “boat-bobbing/ sea salty harbor town” in Maine. After 12-year-old Reena’s parents move the family to Maine from “a harlequin city/ of sights and noises,/ of museums and parks and music,” there’s more in store for Reena and her younger brother, Luke, than cold weather, lobster, and blueberries—starting with elderly Mrs. Falala and her menagerie of pets, including Zora, a cow as cantankerous as her owner. At their parents urging, Reena and Luke begin helping Mrs. Falala with chores, and before long Reena has agreed to take care of Zora and show her at the local fair, which requires work, patience, and help from more experienced livestock handlers. As Reena learns that a little kindness works wonders for both people and animals, Creech’s spare narrative creates vivid, emotion-packed images of landscapes, characters, and “that/ wild-eyed/ heifer,” Zora, that will stay with readers. Ages 8–12. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House. (Aug.)
Newbery Medalist Creech touches on themes of loss, friendship, and belonging in this appealing tale. The book’s playful use of words sets this novel apart. Fans of Love That Dog will find much to love in this story of a girl, a cow, and so much more. — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
As Reena learns that a little kindness works wonders for both people and animals, Creech’s spare narrative creates vivid, emotion-packed images of landscapes, characters, and “that/ wild-eyed/ heifer,” Zora, that will stay with readers. — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Creech offers a memorable family story featuring an especially difficult cow… A heartfelt tale that will be embraced by Creech’s fans, work well as a classroom read-aloud, and find a spot in book groups. — School Library Journal (starred review)
The quick pace and accessible narrative will win over reluctant readers, and it’s an easy pick for fans of Creech’s Love That Dog or animal lovers looking for a quick yet moo-ving read. — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
The quick pace and accessible narrative will win over reluctant readers, and it’s an easy pick for fans of Creech’s Love That Dog or animal lovers looking for a quick yet moo-ving read.
The quick pace and accessible narrative will win over reluctant readers, and it’s an easy pick for fans of Creech’s Love That Dog or animal lovers looking for a quick yet moo-ving read.
01/01/2017
Gr 4–6—Twelve-year-old Reena's outburst during a family conversation about parental careers, geography, and the future "ten years from now" catapults the family from a city of monuments, subways, and museums and lands them in rural Maine. Her expectations of her new home include lobsters, blueberries, beaches, and mountains, but what she and her seven-year-old brother Luke get most familiar with is Zora, an ornery cow. Thanks to their parents, who have volunteered the kids' manual labor to their new neighbor Mrs. Falala (who just might be as cantankerous as her bovine resident), Reena and Luke have quite the "moo-ving" experience. With appealing, youthful charm, Brittany Pressley voices Creech's latest, finding a gentle, welcoming rhythm between the prose and verse of this hybrid text. VERDICT Who doesn't love a happy-ever-after story starring kids and unpredictable animals? Creech fans and newbies alike will eagerly embrace this irresistible read.—Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC
★ 07/01/2016
Gr 3–6—Creech offers a memorable family story featuring an especially difficult cow. When Reena, 12, and her brother Luke, seven, move with their parents to Maine from the noisy bustle of New York City, lots of adjustments are required. The siblings appreciate each other and generally get along. The citified family is thrust into small-town life, and things get awkward when Reena's parents force her and Luke to help out a neighbor, Mrs. Falala, who owns a small menagerie of animals, including one very cantankerous cow. Creech employs a mix of prose and poems. The free verse poems contain spare punctuation, inventive spacing, and clever use of font. As Reena and Luke learn about farm life, they also discover more about Mrs. Falala, who impacts the lives of the family in unexpected ways. VERDICT A heartfelt tale that will be embraced by Creech's fans, work well as a classroom read-aloud, and find a spot in book groups.—Carol A. Edwards, Formerly at Denver Public Library
Reena and her younger brother are excited about their family’s decision to leave the city for a new life in Maine—until their parents volunteer them to help grumpy Mrs. Falala with her obstinate cow, Zora. With MOO’s small cast of characters and Sharon Creech's customary poetic frugality with words, the importance of the audiobook’s narration quality is outsized. Brittany Pressley's youthful voice is perfect for the two siblings. She also does a fair job with Maine accents, though she struggles with Mrs. Falala’s Italian one. Still, Pressley sets a believable mood. As the siblings gain skill with Zora, we hear them grow in confidence, and we hear the proportional softening of Mrs. Falala. Zora plays a major role; her oft-repeated line is a surprisingly diminutive, "moo." L.T. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
★ 2016-05-14
Newbery Medalist Creech touches on themes of loss, friendship, and belonging in this appealing tale of a young girl's unlikely relationship with Zora, an enormous belted Galloway.When 12-year-old Reena's parents lose their newspaper jobs in the big city, they decide to change the flight plan of their lives and move to a small coastal town in Maine. Reena and her brother, Luke, "a seven-year-old complexity," are volunteered by their mother to help Mrs. Falala, an elderly and ostensibly cantankerous woman whose menagerie of animals includes a pig named Paulie, a cat named China, a snake named Edna, and the ornery, stubborn, slobbering, bellowing cow, Zora. Soon Luke is teaching Mrs. Falala to draw, and Reena is preparing to show Zora at the upcoming fair. The book's playful use of words sets this novel apart. Not only does Creech seamlessly intersperse prose and poetry, but the design manipulates typeface, font, setting, and spacing to paint word-pictures, in some instances creating concrete poetry while in others emphasizing a few words on the page—an accentuation that makes the story come alive and deftly communicates the range of emotions, from humor to sorrow, that the story conveys. Luke, Reena, and most of their new neighbors are likely white; Beat, an older girl who helps Reena learn about cows, is dark-skinned. Fans of Love That Dog (2001) and Hate That Cat (2010) will find much to love in this story of a girl, a cow, and so much more. (Fiction. 8-12)
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940170038015 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins Publishers |
| Publication date: | 08/30/2016 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
| Age Range: | 8 - 11 Years |
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