Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Spring Babies
Kindergarten-Grade 2—Cowgirl Kate wakes up her talking horse to go out on a late-night calf patrol. Sure enough, one of the cows is ready to give birth. Kate grabs her walkie-talkie to contact her parents but before she can reach them, the calf arrives. Despite Cocoa's complaints that cows are too much work, he finds the baby so sweet that he wants to stay all night to look after it. Later, when Kate's friend Jenny drives up to the farm, Cocoa is excited to think she might bring him a peppermint. Instead she brings Kate a puppy. Cocoa is obviously jealous of the new addition and ignores him until the puppy tickles his legs. When he learns that the puppy will help him with the cows, Cocoa welcomes him. In the third chapter, Cocoa mistakes baby barn owls for a ghost. While the stories are thin, this transitional first reader will appeal to fans of the other books in the series. Language is kept fairly simple and the ink and watercolor washes are humorous and light. The text lacks the real humor of beginning readers like Denys Cazet's "Minnie and Moo" series (HarperCollins) or Mo Willems's "Elephant & Piggie" books (Hyperion), but it is an adequate addition to fill the almost bottomless need for early chapter books.—Mary Hazelton, Elementary Schools in Warren & Waldoboro, MECopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.