Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type

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      BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cronin, Doreen. 2000. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. Ill. by Doreen Cronin.

New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780743461511

       PLOT SUMMARY

Cronin begins the story with a farmer’s back and forth negotiations with his cows, who have somehow acquired a typewriter. All day long, he hears click, clack, moo. He is shocked when he finds a note from the cows. They demand electric blankets to improve the conditions in the barn. He initially refuses to meet their demands, leading the cows to go on strike and withhold milk. After the chickens unite with the cows and threaten to deny eggs, he responds with a demand letter of his own. Duck, being the mediator, delivers a final compromise to the farmer. The cows will exchange the typewriter for the blankets. Thinking this would resolve his problems on the farm, he gives in. Unfortunately, the ducks have ideas of their own. The typing begins again, as the ducks demand a diving board to alleviate their boredom.

      CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Cronin uses a simplistic text style that is easy to read. The text is large, and the dark print stands out against the lighter colors of the illustrations. This humorous tale uses fun, light storytelling and repetitive rhetoric like “Click, Clack, Moo,” which makes it fun to read and offers predictable text that younger readers can imitate.

Lewin begins by creating a cover that incorporates the characters seen throughout the book. Only including the animals, emphasized the point of view of the text. She uses bold lines for her cartoon-like illustrations, which helps the reader follow the story without being overly distracting. The drawings are large and not overly detailed. Her use of color gives clues about the setting as the story plays out. For example, some pages have a red background, representing the barn. In addition, the passage of time is represented with bright yellow backgrounds for daytime and dark blues for night. This is effective for younger readers because they can still “read” the story using just the illustrations. The illustrations are complementary to the text because they show events that are not directly relayed by Cronin, such as the farmer’s response to the ducks. Lewin ends the book with a single image of a duck diving off of a diving board, leaving the reader to infer that the farmer agreed to their demands.

Readers of all ages can appreciate this comical approach to problem resolution.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Caldecott Medal Award winner

Starred review in Booklist: "Lewin's wild line-and-watercolor cartoons are perfectly suited to this barnyard farce about animals that go on strike to demand better working conditions."

        CONNECTIONS

*This book is a good starting point to discuss persuasive writing.

*Duck was probably a working with the cows the whole time!” – Noah “If I was the farmer, I would have brought the note to the cows myself, instead of sending Duck. W., 4^th grade
*Use this book as a mentor text for teaching onomatopoeias. 

* Other books in the series include:

Cronin, Doreen. Giggle, Giggle, Quack. ISBN 9781579821562

Cronin, Doreen. Duck for President. ISBN 9781442460966