Hey diddle
You all know the riddle,
A cow jumps over the moon.
It happened, all right,
On a crisp, cloudless night
On the second last Friday in June
The first time the cow tried to jump over the moon, was disastrous. Embarrassing. And as for the fiddler cat? Some practice wouldn’t go astray there either. Luckily they were among friends and friends help friends. So begins a night of getting it right. Some training, some direction, some practice and support all help to make the night a success. Along the way, there’s plenty of fun. Illustrations are full bleed and full of nighttime blues, reds, golds and more. Endpapers feature patchwork paddocks.
The Cow Tripped Over the Moon revisits the popular riddle ‘The Cow Jumped over the Moon’ and explores just what happened before ‘opening night’. This delightful nonsense has at its heart a reminder that things don’t always go perfectly the first time. It explores the nature of friendship, the value of persistence, failure and success. Young readers will come for the silliness, and that’s as good a reason as any to get lost in a story. Recommended for pre- and early-schoolers.
The Cow Tripped Over the Moon, Tony Wilson ill Laura Wood
Scholastic Press 2015
ISBN: 9781743623534
review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller