MOO WHO?

More verbal paradiddles from the Principessa of Puns and Wordfoolery. Thanks to a hard cow pie to the head, bovine diva Hilda Mae Heifer loses both memory and the ability to emit her earsplitting (off-key) moos. Confused, she wobbles over to a goose and honks. “ ‘Lady, enough of that honking! You’re a cow. You moo.’ ‘Who?’ answered Hilda. ‘Me? Moo?’ ” Similarly worded encounters with chicks and other livestock ensue. A foreshortened body behind huge, mottled purple nostrils in Grave’s characteristically oddball illustrations, Hilda waddles forlornly about the barnyard, uncertainly repeating, “Moo-oo. Me? Moo?” until her memory and Wagnerian voice at last return. The plot’s a bit too thin to give this the udder perfection of Bad Boys (2003) or Web Files (2001), but it should still incite guffaws, particularly read aloud. (Picture book. 6-8)