SAILOR MOO

A land-locked cow follows her dream—and finds lasting happiness—in Wheeler’s (Sixteen Cows, p. 348, etc.) humorous outing. In the opening spread, Moo stands before the fence that divides her grassy grazing land from the wheat field. “Moo watched the field of waving wheat, / and wished for ocean swells. / She sniffed the freshness of the grass, / but wished for ocean smells.” Not one to wait, Moo heads to the bay and boards a boat piloted by craggy cats. Goembel’s (The Night Iguana Left Home, 1999, etc.) finely wrought acrylic illustration brims with witty details, from the anthropomorphized crew drawing in a loaded fish net to the bristly captain, who wears an eye patch and hooked claw. He agrees to take Moo on in exchange for fresh milk. When a storm sends Moo overboard and she’s rescued by a pirate ship captained by Red Angus, her life takes an unexpected turn (“Red Angus gazed into her eyes. / His heart began to warm. / In Moo he’d found his dairy queen / and now he must reform”). The naturalistic accuracy of Goembel’s illustration adds to the humor of this most unusual situation, especially in the end, when a closing cameo zeroes in on Moo, Angus, and their calf Half-’n’-Half, enjoying ice-cream cones on the Jersey shore. (Picture book. 3-7)