Review by Booklist Review
The creators of Fantastic Farm Machines (2006) offer another informative, eye-catching picture book about farm life. This time, the focus is a dairy farm in northern Wisconsin, introduced through the daily life of a single cow, Clarabelle. In describing the basics of cow physiology and care and the dairy's operations, Peterson illuminates facts with comparisons that will grab kids' attention: All that chewing makes Clarabelle produce nearly 30 gallons of saliva a day. That's a lot of drool! Children may need help understanding terms such as renewable energy, and they may have follow-up questions: How is manure made into energy? Lundquist's sharp, close-up photographs of Clarabelle, her newborn calves, and the family who owns the farm, including a few elementary-age workers, will easily draw curious kids back into the science. A good addition to classroom units about foods' origins, this handsome title makes a natural companion to Peterson's Extra Cheese, Please! Mozzarella's Journey from Cow to Pizza (1994).--Engberg, Gillian Copyright 2007 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-Curious aficionados of animals and milk products will be thrilled with this up-close peek at the daily life of a cow on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Color photos provide insider glimpses at bovines, farmers, machinery, and a newly born calf being bottle-fed by two young brothers whose family runs the farm. Rich text explains the many roles of a Holstein: along with producing milk, technology allows its by-products to become electricity, bedding, and fertilizer. An overview of Clarabelle's digestive system reminds readers that modern machines are not responsible for all of the processing that takes place; cows' stomachs are also key in the breaking down of feed. References to familiar items (five gallons of milk are enough for 160 bowls of cereal) aid in comprehension of quantities of milk, feed, and electricity. Sophisticated ideas and vocabulary make this picture book a good choice for advanced young readers. Brevity and plenty of illustrations make it an accessible, engaging source of quality information.-Amanda Moss, Maywood Elementary School, Monona, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Here's a Holstein who makes a fetching subject for Lundquist's camera, though this easy-reading portrait of a dairy farm's "four-footed factory" leaves the boundary between fact and invention a little vague. Never explaining why Clarabelle has a name when her 1,200 herdmates evidently don't, the author joins her as she gives birth (offstage), then disappears while her calf--seen in an obviously posed shot--is fed "first milk" from a bottle by two farm lads. Off she trundles to the milking center, and afterward back to the manger, where she stands on bedding made from her own processed dung and feeds on a mix of silage that may be "tossed like a garden salad," but certainly doesn't look like one. Along with tallying the many products made from Clarabelle's milk and manure (methane from the latter even powers an electrical generator) and explaining with tantalizing brevity how a few of them are made, Peterson introduces some members of the farm's owning family. Younger readers may get a clearer picture of how a dairy farm works from Gail Gibbons's The Milk Makers (1985) or Aliki's Milk from Cow to Carton (1992), but this provides a more personal view of the enterprise. (Nonfiction. 7-9) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
