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Item Barcode | Collection | Call Number | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33607003157305 | Picture Books | MERINO | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
Winner:
2017 CCBC Choices
2017 Charlotte Zolotow Award, Highly Commended Title
Tina isn't like the other cows. She believes that the sky is the limit and that everything is possible. But her sisters aren't convincedand when Tina tells them she has climbed a tree and met a dragon, they decide that her nonsense has gone too far. Off they go into the woods to find herand soon discover a world of surprises!
Author Notes
Gemma Merino spent the first half of her life in her hometown near Barcelona where she became an architect with very itchy feet. And after living and working in Dublin, Tel Aviv, and finally London, she discovered the fascinating world of picture books. Gemma won the Macmillan Prize for children's book illustration in 2011 for her first book, The Crocodile Who Didn't Like Water , while studying for her MA in children's book illustration at the Cambridge School of Art.
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Tina is a cow with perfectly purple spots. Her three sisters have neat navy spots. Tina has "a thirst for discovery." Her sisters do not, preferring instead to focus on procuring fresh and juicy grass, like good cows do. One day, while exploring the woods, Tina decides to try something new, and climbs a tree ("Up and up she went. When she got to the top, Tina couldn't believe her eyes..."). Who knew there would be a dragon at the top of the tree? A friendly, vegetarian dragon. Wearing red boots. Tina and her new friend spend all afternoon talking about their dreams and sharing stories. That night, Tina tells her sisters about her new friend. They respond with their typical refrain of "IMPOSSIBLE! RIDICULOUS! NONSENSE!" The next morning, Tina's sisters find a note, announcing that Tina has "gone flying with the Dragon of the woods." Completely disgruntled, the three sisters stomp into the woods, where cows do NOT belong, to find Tina and bring her home. Entering the woods for the first time, the sisters are struck by its beauty. Dreamy illustrations, rendered in watery shades of supple reds and a variety of green and brown hues and highlighted with slightly fuzzy dark brown lines, build upon the text, making this a pleasurable read-aloud. The sublime silliness depicts Tina "flying" with the help of a parachute, along with a mouse, pig (yes, pigs fly), rabbit, and owl. And, as it turns out, her three sisters decide, "YES, WHY NOT?" and don parachutes to join the flying festivities. "And after that, they just couldn't wait to see what else was possible." VERDICT Readers will delight in listening to this story about creativity, independent thinking, and being true to oneself.-Lisa Kropp, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Tina, a cow with a "thirst for discovery," realizes the heights to which her curiosity can take her in this sweetly funny story from Merino (The Crocodile Who Didn't Like Water). Whenever Tina shares her "amazing ideas" with her incurious sisters (a balloon over Tina's head reveals that she's keen on visiting the moon in a rocket), they proclaim them "Impossible!" and "Nonsense!" Undeterred, Tina climbs a tree and discovers a "friendly... and vegetarian" dragon, and the two trade stories and dreams of flying and fire-breathing. When Tina disappears, her concerned siblings venture into the woods, where they find Tina living out her dreams of flight (with help from a parachute) and decide to join in. Merino's illustrations add greatly to the playfulness of a story in which cows, pigs, and several other flightless animals get a chance to soar; her cows are silly, rotund figures on spindly legs, and she uses splotches of bright color to represent the leaves of trees in the forest. It's a lighthearted and amusing endorsement of leaving one's comfort zone, ignoring naysayers, and giving dreams a chance. Ages 4-8. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.