Cow

July 31, 1997
This book of bovine facts resembles nothing so much as a carton of Ben & Jerry's ice cream in picture-book format. Readers will not be surprised to learn that Vermonters Older and Severance previously collaborated on Ben & Jerry's--The Real Scoop! And ice cream connoisseurs will find that, not only do the cheery cartoons and splashy black-and-white spots look familiar, even the book's typeface is used with permission from Ben & Jerry's. The first "chapter" sets the jokey tone: the word "first" appears in two-inch-high block capitals, and the text offers words that rhyme with "cow," such as "pow and powwow; chow and chow chow; bow and bowwow!" The 10 sections detail the various kinds of cows, the names of the cow's four stomachs and how to pronounce them ("reticulum" rhymes with "Let's tickle 'em!"), how calves are born, how to make an ice cream sundae and such facts as the creator of the world's largest sundae (Ben & Jerry's, naturally). This trivial but amusing offering would pair well with a pint--and not of Guinness. All ages.