A Tofu Shaped Turkey Saves The Day In This Minnie & Moo Adventure!
Written: Mar 05 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Incredibly cute story, great illustrations, great addition to the series.
Cons: Made me feel extremely guilty when I was cooking my Thanksgiving turkey.
The Bottom Line: A cream puff eating cow and her companion Moo save the day and teach a valuable lesson; never try to pack a hundred animals into a tree ….
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| Freak369's Full Review: Denys Cazet and Barbara Caruso - Minnie and Moo an... |
I started buying the Minnie & Moo series of books when I received one of them for Halloween and thought it was “udderly” adorable. I guess my friends ran out of ‘normal’ things to get me for the holiday so they started buying me books. This is one of my favorites in the series because it’s so touching; kids like it because it’s packed full of animals and, as much as I hate to ruin the ending I just have to say, not a single one of them end up being served for Thanksgiving dinner. The entire series is phenomenal for kids of all ages; they are entertaining, educational and just too freakin’ cute for words. No matter which of the books you get, you’ll be entertained by Minnie and Moo and all their fantastic journeys. I highly suggest that you get the hard covered versions of the books, they do cost more but they last a lot longer. If you start to buy these books and your children really like them, spending the extra money on the hard cover ones will pay off over time.
Minnie And Moo And The Thanksgiving Tree
It’s Thanksgiving morning and there seems to be some tension in the air, but if you ask Moo, it’s more of a sadness than a tension. Sipping their hot cocoa under an autumn colored tree, Moo says that there is so much for them to be thankful for. That’s when Zeke and Zack Beakerson, two of the farms turkeys, pop their heads up from some tall grass. You sort of get the feeling that this is a regular thing this time of year when Minnie says, “What is their problem?” and Moo replies with, “It’s Thanksgiving morning” and Minnie rolls her eyes saying, “Here we go again!”. Zeke and Zack really don’t have much to fear since the farmer’s wife hasn’t cooked a Thanksgiving turkey in years but that doesn’t stop them from being paranoid, they are expecting company and company means a home cooked meal! Minnie and Moo agree to help them hide but are sort of shocked with Zeke and Zack run to the edge of the grass. It seems there are thirty six other turkeys that are just as nervous.
Once they help the last turkey into the tree, Minnie and Moo decide that maybe they should move. Good idea, have you ever sat under that many nervous turkeys? A few moments later they are approached by some chickens. They are worried that now that the turkeys are gone, they are the next item on the menu. Being the kind cows that they are, Minnie and Moo point to the tree and tell them to go hide. The story continues when an ostrich shows up saying that the chickens and the turkeys are both gone. Along with the ostrich you also see six geese, two pigs and a flock of sheep, all worried that since other animals are starting to disappear, they’ll be the next animal that will be cooked for dinner. Into the tree they go, one by one, each noticing where all the other animals disappeared to.
Minnie and Moo can’t help but have a little bit of fun along the way, every so often they say, “Is that the farmer I see?” which makes all the animals in the tree go silent. It’s a wonder how Minnie ever manages to get a single cream puff eaten in peace. Just when they are sure that there will be no other interruptions, Bea and Madge, two cows, show up. This time, they’ve got luggage! Once they manage to get the cows and their trunks into the tree Minnie once again says that she see’s the farmer, only this time she isn’t kidding! Now Minnie and Moo are stuck in the tree, if they start to climb down then they’ll know something is going on, it’s not everyday you see a cow climbing out of a tree you know.
When the farmer, his wife and the city cousins decide to set up their picnic under the tree, things get a little out of control. None of the animals can stay quiet so the humans think that the tree is talking to them. They are all convinced that it is indeed a Thanksgiving tree when a huge ostrich egg falls out, right into the middle of the turkey shaped tofu loaf. Emma and Lulu, the cousins, don’t do much to help the situation; they think the tree is magical. The result is pretty comical, animals start tumbling out of the tree and the farmers wife says, “I think this picnic is over, lets go back to the house, I made cream puffs for dessert.” The ending of the book is really what got to me. As Minnie and Moo are sitting in a different tree they both reflect on the changing seasons, friendship and the possibility that spring will bring more cream puffs.
My Take
To me this was an incredibly cute story that younger kids would really get into. There’s a little bit of drama and a lot of laughs as the animals all try to hide out even though Minnie and Moo made it pretty clear that the farmers wife hasn’t cooked an animals for Thanksgiving in many years. The illustrations are brilliant, colorful and really add a lot to the story. This is the kind of book that kids can read at any time of the year, but it’s a must for reading around Thanksgiving. It shows that even cows can have a heart, this doesn’t come right out and preach that eating animals is wrong but I must admit that I did feel pretty darn guilty when I pulled out that frozen turkey to make it for Thanksgiving.
The Bottom Line
With a cute story, awesome illustrations and easy to read text, this is a great pick for kids who are three and older. They will laugh as they read the story and see all the animals trying to find some place to hide as well as their shock when they climb into the tree and see all the other animals hiding out. This doesn’t really teach anything about the holiday but it does give mo9re than a few giggles for adults and children alike. The whole series of books are great for entertaining and letting kids start to read on their own, I know this one will see a lot of use from Annabelle and other kids in her age group!
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2005 Freak369
Other awesome books for kids …
The Hallo-Wiener
Getting to Grips With Grammar
Rookie Read-About Holidays: Groundhog Day
Eyewitness Junior “Amazing Bats”
Dragon’s Merry Christmas
Rookie Read-About Holidays: Halloween
Recommended:
Yes
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