Audrey (cow)
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- £6.99
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
Audrey is a cow with poetry in her blood, who yearns for the greener pastures beyond Bittersweet Farms. But when Roy the horse tells this bovine dreamer that she is headed for Abbot's War, the slaughter house, Audrey knows that she must leave her home and friends sooner than she ever imagined. With the help of a whole crew of animals and humans alike, Audrey attempts to escape the farm she lives on--and certain death. Cleverly written as an oral account, this unique illustrated tale of an animal on the run, told "to camera", uses over thirty narrative voices, including six humans, four cows, three sheep, two sheep dogs, one pig and a very silly rooster. Full of heart and humor, Audrey (cow) is ultimately a very human story about life and death, friendship, and holding on to one's dreams--based more or less on a true story.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
More than 30 voices, both animal and human, contribute to this cleverly constructed story of a cow bound, like her mother before her, for the abattoir (or "Abbot's war" as the animals of Bittersweet Farm call it). Framing the story as a series of interviews, Bar-el (Nine Words Max) creates a humorous chorus of perspectives, temperaments, dialects, and cadences. A dreamer and a poet, Audrey refuses to accept that she's headed "straight to the meat section of the supermarket" and becomes determined to flee the farm. With the help of her barnyard friends including a clever dog, a "master strategist" pig, bickering geese, a pompous rooster, and a nosy horse Audrey pulls off a comically orchestrated escape, aka "Operation Urgent Fury." As a bumbling reporter and a wildlife enforcement officer follow her trail, Audrey relies on forest animals to elude capture and find her happy ending. Mai-Wyss's (A Giraffe Did One) b&w watercolors bolster the lighthearted atmosphere of this thoroughly charming story of a cow determined to chart her own destiny, inspired by an actual incident. Ages 7 10.
