BANGER! TEACH THE CHILDREN TO UNIONIZE!

A book about the power of literacy and effective communication, told with great humor.

Somebody make me stop laughing.
Cows that type were hard to find, actually impossible. Until this book came into existence. I thanked the writers that this time they made the ducks play a neutral role but did they really?

Ducks cannot be trusted, right?

Plunge straight into this hilarious one.

P.S. We're closed. No milk today.

HA HA! Workers of the world unite! I'm not sure how I accidentally checked out this book on how to explain union movements to your toddler, but this was a h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s, bizarre, and unexpected read.

This one’s for my nieces. Very nostalgic.

The cows are so silly

Author: Doreen Cronin

Illustrator: Betsy Lewin

Genre: Fiction Picture Book

Publication Info: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing : 2000

Reading Level: Ages 4-8; Early Reader

Topic/Theme: Animal Rights/ Strike

Issues Addressed: Whether animals should be given rights on the farm. Does the farmer have the right to keep the animals produce? Social issues: stereotypical farmer and farm setting

Classroom Uses: Read Aloud, Individual Reading, Shared Reading

Summary: The animals on the farm find a typewriter. They start to send the farmer messages. They demand to have electric blankets because the barn is cold at night. They eventually go on strike and refuse to give their milk or eggs. The duck is the mediator in the story.

Text and image: The illustrations are phenomenal. The text and the images correlate wonderfully together. The text is written in an interactive manner. By the end of the book the children are mooing along with the "click, clack, moooo". They always get a chuckle out of the "click, clack, quack" at the end of the book. The text is engaging and comical. You do not expect the duck to choose a side, being that he is the mediator.

Literary Devices: irony (duck), allusion (strike and worker's rights), onomatopoeia (click, clack moo)

I was at Mysterious Galaxy, our wonderful indie bookstore, and saw that the 20th anniversary was out, which made me feel old. I had fallen in love with it immediately when we got it at the branch, and read it to the kids at story time a number of times, so I couldn’t resist grabbing it. All the kids hear are animals outwitting the farmer. But it really is about Labor and how to run a successful strike and how the concept of a strike can spread to others. Even more, it is about the power of words and writing. The whole thing started when the cows found the old typewriter discarded into the barn. After they experimented a while, they were able to type English and form sentences. If only actual learning was so self driven and simple and successful! If I say more, I suppose I’ll have to put spoilers on what happens next! But it is delightful! Click, clack, moo!

Click, Clack, Moo is a wonderful children's book where Farmer Brown's cow go on strike and they use an old typewritter in the barn to make letters of their demands. All the animals have incredible character voices as they all advocate for the things they want on the farm. The book is funny and original, where all ages can enjoy.

Middle school students may be hesistant to be read to, seeing it as something they have outgrown, but it is a great thing to do for them. Hearing someone else read to them increases their comprehension of the text at hand. I also suspect you will see middle schoolers no longer protesting when they see this book as funny once you start, or maybe they remember it from when they were a bit younger.

With this children's book, I would have student's write a Build Them Up/Knock Them Down argument from the perspective of Farmer Brown. Using the book, students would have to counter the animals demands pretending as if they were in charge of the farm. Students could also choose to argue as the animal, knocking down Farmer Brown's arguments to why they shouldn't get what they want.

Comments on the Story:

Have you ever wondered what cows would ask for if they could some how manage to type a letter to the farmer? Well if you want to find out then you should read this book.

Recommend Uses for this Book:

This book would be a great book for a preschool storytime. I have thought of using this book for "working together" type themes, because the cows work together to get something they want. This might also be a great story to do a flannel board.

This book is soo funny and cute!
I love the illustrations in the book and the Cows typing is hilarious. I wish this book was available in Spanish I would us it to teach my kids about movements, strikes and organizations in general.

I wonder how cows managed to type with their reduced number of digits and no opposable thumbs. At least the hens or the messenger duck could have used the hunt and peck method, but apparently this did not occur until later in the book. This book was written in the year 2000. One wonders why the farm animals did not use computers; with a decent voice recognition software, they might have avoided the awkwardness and tedium of typing altogether.