The veteran author of Art Dog (1996), Mama Don’t Allow (1987), and other mainstays of the genre, strains to be clever in this slightly amusing caper. Space Cowboy Zork cownaps Farmer George’s Moo Cow to a “galaxy far, far away,” where she’s pressed into service for the Inter-Galactic Rodeo. But Moo Cow’s dancing and prancing is deemed too wild, and she’s popped into a flying saucer for a quick trip back to her terrestrial barnyard. Young readers are unlikely to linger over either the art, which features an awkward mix of clipped photos and crudely drawn figures (including alien “zigs” and “zickens”), or the “SHAZOOM” and “KABOOM”-laced narrative. Far from making it over the moon, this cow barely gets off the ground. (Picture book. 5-7)
