By Phillis Gershator, and illustrated by Giselle Potter
Random House Children’s, $16.99, 40 pages
ISBN 9780375867446

Borrowing from the premise of a traditional nursery rhyme, Moo, Moo, Brown Cow, Have You Any Milk? twists the older verse and introduces new characters in Phillis Gershator’s newest children’s picture book.

The young boy in the story meets a gaggle of farm animals and introduces each by the sound we humans associates with each of them. Along the boy’s journey, he talks to sheep, a gray goose, a red hen, a honeybee, and a brown cow. Each animal guarantees their product – whether wool , feathers, eggs, honey, or milk – will help make something  in life a bit better. As day slips to evening, the animals assure that they, too, will sleep and dream, just as the young narrator will.

Giselle Potter adds illustrations resembling folk art paintings that don’t overpower the story. Muted colors provide a fresh background for the sing-song rhythm of the text.

Whether spoken or sung, Moo, Moo, Brown Cow, Have You Any Milk? should be included in a young child’s reading schedule since it introduces basic farm animals and instinctively introduces fun rhyme patterns to beginning readers.

“Moo, moo brown cow, have you any milk?

Yes sir, yes, sir, smooth as silk.”

Reviewed by LuAnn Schindler