Pig, Horse, or Cow, Don't Wake Me Now - Softcover

PreSchool-A companion to Alda's Sheep, Sheep, Sheep, Help Me Fall Asleep (Doubleday, 1992) that once again makes a connection between the animal and human world. Written in elementary rhyme, the story starts with a peacock calling for corn, and from there one creature's sounds wake up another-a calf, a lamb, a duck, etc.-in succession, until finally a boy is roused from his dreams. He races his mother down to breakfast, where he "ate like a pig and chomped like a horse." While the flow of the opening pages works well, the leap to the waking boy is less convincing. His exploits take up the latter half of the book, slowing the narrative considerably. Only very young children who delight in seeing photographs of real animals would find much of interest in this title. While the pictures are colorful and sharply focused, they are rather static. Only by moving back to the resplendent peacock does the book regain a sense of composure and closure.
Martha Topol, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City, MI
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 3-5. "Once upon a summer morn," an early rising peacock calls out and starts a chain of wake-up calls that ends with a boy, Scott, being awoken by his cat. It is no accident that Scott "leaps like a lamb" to breakfast, where he "eats like a pig," linking himself to all the creatures who've woken up before him. Alda cleverly angles her full-color photographs to appear as if a child is bending down to see the rising animals. Early risers and sleepyheads will enjoy the rhyming text and have fun identifying the barnyard friends. Mary Harris Veeder