ALA Booklist (Sun Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 1991)

Plain words and lively, cartoon-style color illustrations tell a heartfelt story of a small boy's insecurity about moving. Marvin loves the cow Rosie, even though everyone thinks she's mean. His older sister tells him that he knows nothing: You don't feed her. You don't wash her. You don't milk her. You don't shovel her manure. When the family is forced to move to another farm, Marvin misses Rosie and cries all the time in the family's new trailer home. Then he imagines a tiny Rosie who's with him all the time, even at school. His family enters into his play and reassures him that they will always be together, even if they have to move again. Based on a version that Newbery-winner Paterson originally wrote for the Vermont Migrant Education Program, this is simply told, with quiet surprises in story, character, and language. Brown's illustrations set Marvin's drama against the daily farm chores, from milking to apple picking. An I Can Read Book. (Reviewed Sept. 15, 1991)

Horn Book (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 1991)

Using simple sentence structure and an easy vocabulary, the author tells a remarkably shrewd and touching story about a boy who overcomes the trauma of moving and the loss of a favorite pet with the help of his understanding family. A beginning reader that gets to the very heart of what matters most to children.

Kirkus Reviews

No one loves cross Rosie but Marvin; she steps on feet, switches faces with her tail, and shoves the people on Brock's farm. Only Marvin understands that Rosie is mad because Mr. Brock took away her calf.'' Then Mr. Brock sells his farm, Rosie and all. Dad has to find a new job, and Marvin is inconsolable- -until he begins to keep a tiny, invisible newRosie'' in a bottle. When he starts school, this Rosie makes Marvin the butt of teasing until his older sister comes up with a perfect face- saver, allowing him to go on enjoying his unusual imaginary friend—at home. Like Paterson's books for older readers, this pint-sized novel treats life's real troubles with sensitivity; and, as might be expected, the author adopts the constraints of the easy reader (her first) with grace and good humor. Brown's unassuming realistic illustrations deftly extend the story, catching the nuances of this nice family's emotions and some authentic details of present-day farming. (Easy reader. 5-8)"

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-- Paterson's first easy reader was originally published for the Vermont Migrant Education Program in 1988, but the text has been substantially reworked and the illustrations are completely new. Marvin and his family live and work on Brock's dairy farm. The boy has a favorite cow, Rosie, who is the meanest cow in the world. But Marvin loves her the best, and says she's nasty only because her calf is gone. When the farm is sold and the family must move, all of Marvin's pain centers on missing Rosie. Soon, on a new farm, he tells his parents that Rosie is with him, transformed by a witch into the smallest cow in the world, and still mean because she had to move. The family's sympathetic and imaginative response helps the boy weather this difficult period. Brown's homey pictures show busy farm life and lots of activity in bright colors. Graceful, reassuring, and sensitive, with a believable cast of characters. --Leda Schubert, Vermont Department of Education, Montpelier