STAMPEDE!

For bored little bovines, mass exodus offers a new kind of fun.

Two little cows are NOT ready to rest. “My legs are wiggly,” says Jasper. “My tail is too twitchy,” adds Cleo. Their restlessness soon vanishes, however, when a spotted cow in their herd receives a nasty bite from a hungry horsefly, lets out a huge scream that alarms the others, and inadvertently causes a “STAMPEDE!” All at once the whole herd is barreling through a farmers market, a movie theater, city hall, and more. The text neatly breaks up key moments of calm with the laugh-out-loud chaos of the stampede. Connors also adeptly eschews logic, allowing his cows to thunder through a rainforest and Denmark and even under the sea (all meticulously tracked in a map at the end of the book). The narrative ends less with a bang and more with a whimper as the now exhausted calves bed down for the night. The influence of Looney Tunes humor can be seen throughout the narrative, clearly replicated in the art. And with its specific mix of quiet and loud, this tale will guarantee pitch-perfect storytimes, so consider pairing alongside Lane Smith’s tonally similar Recess (2025).

A herd mentality leads to unexpected hilarity in a tale that is both paean and send-up of old-fashioned cartoons.