Cowlick!

by Christin Ditchfield, Rosalind Beardshaw

Overview

. . . She comes in the middle of the night, when everyone is sleeping. When she sees a smooth little head on a pillow, she can't resist giving it a cow kiss—sluuurrrp! Cowlick! gives young readers an imaginative and playful explanation for the "bedhead" that afflicts us all!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307983664
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	06/26/2013
Series:	Deluxe Golden Book
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	40
File size:	7 MB
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

CHRISTIN DITCHFIELD is a former preschool and elementary school teacher. She's now a popular speaker and host of the internationally syndicated inspirational radio program "Take It to Heart!" A prolific writer of magazine articles and columns for CBA publications, she's also the author of nearly 50 books, including A Family Guide to "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." Cowlick! is her first picture book. She lives in Sarasota, Florida.

ROSALIND BEARDSHAW has illustrated dozens of picture books for the British and European market since she graduated from Manchester Polytechnic in 1992. In her spare time, she works as a volunteer with adults with learning disabilities. She lives in York, England.

Editorial Reviews

Young bedhead sufferers, take heart! Ditchfield's picture-book debut imagines a playful explanation as to how children who go to bed with neat hair wake up with some wild 'dos in the morning. It's all because of a mysterious but kindly bovine nighttime visitor. Some readers may feel uneasy believing that they could be slurped by a cow while they sleep. But many adults—and kids—who've tried to tame the tufts of wild hair known by the titular term will likely find much to chuckle about here. Brief rhyming couplets set the scene as Beardshaw's (Grandma's Surprise) cheery, close-perspective acrylic paintings depict the action. She seems to take particular glee in fashioning the sturdily wavy "once-flat hair now standing tall" on three brothers' heads. The cowlick on an additional (furry) member of the family—shown on the final spread—is not to be missed. Ages 2-5. (Jan.)

Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 1
An attention-grabbing, shiny, wet-looking streak splashes across the cover like a big slurp while a cow-shaped shadow skulks across the endpapers. Within this clever package, simple rhymes on bold spreads tell the story of a mysterious cowlick. Finally, there is a reasonable explanation for all of the hair that goes astray in the night: when kids are sleeping, the cowlick cow comes along and plants a big sloppy kiss on their heads. "To the bedside she comes sneaking/Lifting covers, gently peeking/Sees a face so soft and sweet/Framed with hair so smooth and neat…." Appealingly rich and textured paintings on full spreads depict the course of the cowlick night and the morning after, lending the text a perfect fuzzy nighttime quality. The short, lively text makes this fun for sharing aloud with large groups of young children, especially those with heads marked by the cow's kisses.
—Julie RoachCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Silly business ensues when the moon rises over a rural home, and two young brothers fall asleep. Listen for a "Clip-clop, clip-clop" of approaching hooves. Into the bedroom a rotund and jolly Holstein is sneaking, clearly relishing her job. As the household doggy looks on, the jolly cow lifts the covers and wetly bestows a loving, big, pink-tongued, "Sluuurrpp!," thereby glossing and molding the hair of the slumbering little ones. Now the mystery of those stand-up bed-head hairdos is forever solved! The twinkle-eyed cow moves on as the morning sun rises above her. The robustly colorful paintings, which favor orange and cobalt blue, conjure tender and humorous scenes of snuggly children and the bovine nighttime prankster. Brevity and true whimsy imbue this breezy bedtime rhyme. This is sure to be a sweet beginning to a restful night and will be giggled over and gobbled up; lickety-split-a laptime favorite! (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews

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