Review by Booklist Review
Milly Moo is a bit of a misfit. Unlike the other cows that live on the farm, she doesn't like warm weather. In fact, the heat makes her unproductive, which in turn makes the farmer angry at her inability to provide milk. He threatens her with banishment, but just when Milly thinks she is a goner, the weather changes. The surprise isn't that she now can make milk, however. Instead, delighted with the chill outside, she provides the surprised farmer with the coldest, chilliest, frostiest, iciest ice cream! Ross' illustrations play with the arrangement of the text on barn boards, in a bucket and often the pictures break their margins. For instance, when Milly fairly explodes with ice cream, splotches of white are randomly spattered about and seem to be dribbling off the page. Milly herself is quite the character, differentially defined by her boots and pom-pom-adorned knit hat. The age-old message is, as Milly proclaims. We're all special! --Cruze, Karen Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Ross makes her children's book debut with a familiar story about not fitting in, one that's enlivened by the eccentricities of her artwork and the book's design. Milly Moo, a cow, can't make milk ("I'm too hot!" she grumps, frowning in her knit cap and boots), and her place on the farm is in jeopardy. The other cows make suggestions ("The sun helps me make milk"), but they can't understand why Milly Moo is different. There's a bit of Lauren Child to Ross's digital illustrations-full of physical humor and emotive characters-which are mostly from a low, barn floor perspective, just right for a story in which milking cows figures prominently. A cold snap reveals that Milly Moo's talents lie not in making milk, but in "the coldest, chilliest, frostiest, iceiest... ice cream," a left-field twist that should draw giggles and help the "be yourself" message go down as smooth as soft serve. Some of the book's typographical flourishes affect readability-the narration sometimes appears within bricks and floorboards in the cows' barn-but readers will be won over by Ross's oddball cast. Ages 3-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3-This fun story sports dynamic, exaggerated digital illustrations akin to woodcuts in their texture and line. Clad in a knit hat and boots, Milly Moo is shunned by her bovine friends because she can't make milk. While the other cows bask and boast in the sun, getting ripe for milk making, Milly Moo complains about always being too hot. Finally, one chilly morning, she discovers what she needs to produce a treat that's even better than milk. The tone is informal and quirky, and the cows' dialogue appears in oversize speech bubbles. The homey typeface follows the lines of the wood-planked barn walls, floorboards, and rafters. The perspectives are always a hoot. Young listeners and readers will be as slack-jawed as the rotund, full-bearded farmer when they discover what comes out of Milly Moo. This book conveys explicitly and humorously the message that differences should be accepted without pride or envy. Recommend it for the surprise factor and the blend of old-timey aesthetics and moral.-Sara Lissa Paulson, American Sign Language and English Lower School PS 347, New York City (c) Copyright 2011. 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 Horn Book Review
Cow Milly Moo is too hot to make milk. After some melodramatic moping--and a temperature shift--she delivers the goods...in the form of ice cream. In this ode to being different, the prose is punchy ("NOPE / ZILCH / NADA / DIDDLY-SQUAT") and the illustrations accommodating: text occupies the barn's stones and slats, and even the farmer's considerable posterior. Copyright 2010 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
