YOU CAN’T MILK A DANCING COW

With each change of seasons, Farmer Picket’s wife sews clothing for the farm animals: raincoats for the cows; bonnets for the chickens when it got hot; flannel pajamas and nightcap for the rooster; and snowsuits for the pigs. But in each case, the critters are so happy with their comfort clothing that they stop doing their jobs: no milk, no eggs, no morning crowing and no fat pigs. When her sewing machine breaks down, Farmer Picket buys his wife a computer and she promptly turns her animal apparel into an on-line business. Dark-toned colors and bulbous features exaggerate the scenes that are dominated by the white egg-shaped eyes on both people and animals. Though the idea is comical and the title attention-grabbing, the grim human faces and the clad animals border on the grotesque instead of kooky fun, particularly the cows with their pink udders protruding from their yellow slickers. You can’t make hay with this odd farm lot. (Picture book. 4-7)