Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

Newbery Medalist Creech touches on themes of loss, friendship, and belonging in this appealing tale of a young girl's unlikely relationship with Zora, an enormous belted Galloway.When 12-year-old Reena's parents lose their newspaper jobs in the big city, they decide to change the flight plan of their lives and move to a small coastal town in Maine. Reena and her brother, Luke, "a seven-year-old complexity," are volunteered by their mother to help Mrs. Falala, an elderly and ostensibly cantankerous woman whose menagerie of animals includes a pig named Paulie, a cat named China, a snake named Edna, and the ornery, stubborn, slobbering, bellowing cow, Zora. Soon Luke is teaching Mrs. Falala to draw, and Reena is preparing to show Zora at the upcoming fair. The book's playful use of words sets this novel apart. Not only does Creech seamlessly intersperse prose and poetry, but the design manipulates typeface, font, setting, and spacing to paint word-pictures, in some instances creating concrete poetry while in others emphasizing a few words on the page—an accentuation that makes the story come alive and deftly communicates the range of emotions, from humor to sorrow, that the story conveys. Luke, Reena, and most of their new neighbors are likely white; Beat, an older girl who helps Reena learn about cows, is dark-skinned. Fans of Love That Dog (2001) and Hate That Cat (2010) will find much to love in this story of a girl, a cow, and so much more. (Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Newbery Medalist Creech touches on themes of loss, friendship, and belonging in this appealing tale of a young girl's unlikely relationship with Zora, an enormous belted Galloway.When 12-year-old Reena's parents lose their newspaper jobs in the big city, they decide to change the flight plan of their lives and move to a small coastal town in Maine. Reena and her brother, Luke, "a seven-year-old complexity," are volunteered by their mother to help Mrs. Falala, an elderly and ostensibly cantankerous woman whose menagerie of animals includes a pig named Paulie, a cat named China, a snake named Edna, and the ornery, stubborn, slobbering, bellowing cow, Zora. Soon Luke is teaching Mrs. Falala to draw, and Reena is preparing to show Zora at the upcoming fair. The book's playful use of words sets this novel apart. Not only does Creech seamlessly intersperse prose and poetry, but the design manipulates typeface, font, setting, and spacing to paint word-pictures, in some instances creating concrete poetry while in others emphasizing a few words on the page—an accentuation that makes the story come alive and deftly communicates the range of emotions, from humor to sorrow, that the story conveys. Luke, Reena, and most of their new neighbors are likely white; Beat, an older girl who helps Reena learn about cows, is dark-skinned. Fans of Love That Dog (2001) and Hate That Cat (2010) will find much to love in this story of a girl, a cow, and so much more. (Fiction. 8-12)

School Library Journal Starred Review

Gr 3-6 Creech offers a memorable family story featuring an especially difficult cow. When Reena, 12, and her brother Luke, seven, move with their parents to Maine from the noisy bustle of New York City, lots of adjustments are required. The siblings appreciate each other and generally get along. The citified family is thrust into small-town life, and things get awkward when Reena's parents force her and Luke to help out a neighbor, Mrs. Falala, who owns a small menagerie of animals, including one very cantankerous cow. Creech employs a mix of prose and poems. The free verse poems contain spare punctuation, inventive spacing, and clever use of font. As Reena and Luke learn about farm life, they also discover more about Mrs. Falala, who impacts the lives of the family in unexpected ways. VERDICT A heartfelt tale that will be embraced by Creech's fans, work well as a classroom read-aloud, and find a spot in book groups. Carol A. Edwards, Formerly at Denver Public Library

Horn Book

Twelve-year-old Reena's family has just moved to coastal Maine. Reena's parents insist that she and her younger brother help an elderly neighbor, and the city kids are soon mucking out the barn for an ornery woman's equally ornery cow. Reena's narrative uses a comfortable combination of prose, poems, and prose poems. The story zips along yet somehow conveys the slow growth of friendship.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In a book that could have easily been titled Love That Cow (or Hate That Cow, actually) Newbery Medalist Creech uses short chapters that blend poems and prose to trace a displaced city girl-s adjustment to life in a -boat-bobbing/ sea salty harbor town- in Maine. After 12-year-old Reena-s parents move the family to Maine from -a harlequin city/ of sights and noises,/ of museums and parks and music,- there-s more in store for Reena and her younger brother, Luke, than cold weather, lobster, and blueberries-starting with elderly Mrs. Falala and her menagerie of pets, including Zora, a cow as cantankerous as her owner. At their parents urging, Reena and Luke begin helping Mrs. Falala with chores, and before long Reena has agreed to take care of Zora and show her at the local fair, which requires work, patience, and help from more experienced livestock handlers. As Reena learns that a little kindness works wonders for both people and animals, Creech-s spare narrative creates vivid, emotion-packed images of landscapes, characters, and -that/ wild-eyed/ heifer,- Zora, that will stay with readers. Ages 8-12. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House. (Aug.)

ALA Booklist

When 12-year-old Reena, her younger brother, and their parents move from New York City to a small town in Maine, the differences are apparent: a slower pace and a quieter place where the kids are free to bike around town on their own. Almost immediately, their mother volunteers their services to Mrs. Falala, an elderly Italian woman who needs help with her cow. From their first job, shoveling manure, they progress to putting a halter on moody Zora, the Belted Galloway cow they gradually befriend. Reena learns to show her at the upcoming fair. The first-person narrative, written partly in prose and partly in free verse, features a city girl facing challenges that strengthen her body and broaden her thinking. The cover design links it to Creech's previous novels in verse, Love That Dog (2001) and Hate That Cat (2008), and with its distinctive near-rural setting, this highly readable, down-to-earth chapter book offers a refreshing change of pace from most realistic fiction.