I visited the library recently, spotted this book and couldn't resist reading it. The title alone sparked my interest. The plot is this; Farmer Brown has a problem, his cows have found a typewriter, and are making demands. He is at first astounded, then enraged. " Cows that type. Hens on strike! Whoever heard of such a thing?" The underlying message of the story is not to judge a book by its cover, not to stereotype people (or animals). Which is the exact reverse of Farmer Brown's thoughts on the matter. This book is inspiring because it pits some cows; some supposedly dumb, domesticated farm animals against a narrow minded farmer. And, the cows are energized and empowered by finding the forgotten typewriter in the barn. They are empowered to make demands to improve their living conditions. The chickens quickly follow their lead, and start making demands too. In fact, the chickens and cows go on strike, much to Farmer Brown's displeasure. The ducks as neutrals act as mediators, and pass communiques from one side to the other. In the end a deal is struck; the cows hand over the typewriter (to the mediators the ducks) and Farmer Brown hands over the electric blankets. The final twist is that the ducks type up a message to Farmer Brown demanding a diving board as the pond is quite boring. KS1 classes and even lower KS2 classes would love this book. It is full of repetition and onomatopoeia. "Click, clack, moo. Click, clack, moo. Clickety, clack, moo." I would read this to a KS1 class all the way through without stopping. So that the students get the full effect of the story. Then, I would write a line at a time on the board, and in this way show the students how the story is put together, word by word, sentence by sentence. I would emphasize punctuation (speech, question and exclamation marks) spelling, onomatopoeia, word choice, and even with older (KS2) students, letter writing; as the cows's messages to Farmer Brown are in effect (especially the larger ones) letters. They start with Dear Farmer Brown, and end Sincerely The Cows. The cows are also great examples to pupils of effective, competent and enthusiastic writers, and readers. There is also a brief history lesson thrown in for free. That of the typewriter, as most children will not have seen, much less likely used a typewriter. As the typewriter is found forgotten in a barn. So it is in the wider world where the typewriter has been replaced by the computer keyboard, and now the virtual keyboards of smart phones and tablets. Perhaps, a typewriter could be brought in to class and pupils could take turns using it, then comparing its noise, feel and effectiveness with that of the more modern alternatives. To make their own click, clack noises. A few tasks spring to mind from reading this book. In small groups students brain storm other unusual combinations, for example; monkeys that tap dance (thank you, Jessie) squirrels that ski, or rabbits that pilot space rockets. They then write up their best three and draw pictures to accompany. These can be shown to the class and these are then displayed. The very best work, voted and identified by the students could be put together into a book, and the book added to the class's library. Alternatively, students again working in pairs or small groups can brain storm demands that they want to make to either me (the teacher) or to their parents (either individually or collectively). Again, after brain storming verbally students then move on to writing these ideas down. With obvious help, correction and encouragement from the teacher. When this task is completed, these demands could be read out and discussed. As a whole class or in different small groups (and conclusions reported back to the class). Then, (perhaps this is more suitable for KS2) the teacher's or parental responses could be thought about, and again in different groups or pairs, they could be composed and shared with the class. This review is a bit of a jumble because I'd typed an earlier version. Only when it came time to post, it failed to do so, and evaporated into the ether.
" Cows that type. Hens on strike! Whoever heard of such a thing?"
The underlying message of the story is not to judge a book by its cover, not to stereotype people (or animals). Which is the exact reverse of Farmer Brown's thoughts on the matter. This book is inspiring because it pits some cows; some supposedly dumb, domesticated farm animals against a narrow minded farmer. And, the cows are energized and empowered by finding the forgotten typewriter in the barn. They are empowered to make demands to improve their living conditions. The chickens quickly follow their lead, and start making demands too. In fact, the chickens and cows go on strike, much to Farmer Brown's displeasure. The ducks as neutrals act as mediators, and pass communiques from one side to the other. In the end a deal is struck; the cows hand over the typewriter (to the mediators the ducks) and Farmer Brown hands over the electric blankets. The final twist is that the ducks type up a message to Farmer Brown demanding a diving board as the pond is quite boring.
KS1 classes and even lower KS2 classes would love this book. It is full of repetition and onomatopoeia.
"Click, clack, moo. Click, clack, moo. Clickety, clack, moo."
I would read this to a KS1 class all the way through without stopping. So that the students get the full effect of the story. Then, I would write a line at a time on the board, and in this way show the students how the story is put together, word by word, sentence by sentence. I would emphasize punctuation (speech, question and exclamation marks) spelling, onomatopoeia, word choice, and even with older (KS2) students, letter writing; as the cows's messages to Farmer Brown are in effect (especially the larger ones) letters. They start with Dear Farmer Brown, and end Sincerely The Cows.
The cows are also great examples to pupils of effective, competent and enthusiastic writers, and readers. There is also a brief history lesson thrown in for free. That of the typewriter, as most children will not have seen, much less likely used a typewriter. As the typewriter is found forgotten in a barn. So it is in the wider world where the typewriter has been replaced by the computer keyboard, and now the virtual keyboards of smart phones and tablets. Perhaps, a typewriter could be brought in to class and pupils could take turns using it, then comparing its noise, feel and effectiveness with that of the more modern alternatives. To make their own click, clack noises.
A few tasks spring to mind from reading this book. In small groups students brain storm other unusual combinations, for example; monkeys that tap dance (thank you, Jessie) squirrels that ski, or rabbits that pilot space rockets. They then write up their best three and draw pictures to accompany. These can be shown to the class and these are then displayed. The very best work, voted and identified by the students could be put together into a book, and the book added to the class's library.
Alternatively, students again working in pairs or small groups can brain storm demands that they want to make to either me (the teacher) or to their parents (either individually or collectively). Again, after brain storming verbally students then move on to writing these ideas down. With obvious help, correction and encouragement from the teacher. When this task is completed, these demands could be read out and discussed. As a whole class or in different small groups (and conclusions reported back to the class). Then, (perhaps this is more suitable for KS2) the teacher's or parental responses could be thought about, and again in different groups or pairs, they could be composed and shared with the class.
This review is a bit of a jumble because I'd typed an earlier version. Only when it came time to post, it failed to do so, and evaporated into the ether.