about the book
Nadine the cow loves, loves, LOVES to talk! And not only talk, but to tell tall tales at the same time. She often is entertaining, and the other cows of the farm humor her, but one day she tells a real whopper. She isn’t afraid of ANYTHING, not one thing!
Well, this is too much for her patient, gracious friends. They call her bluff. If she is not scared of anything, then she ought to be able to spend a night in the Deep Dark Woods.
Full of herself, Nadine decides to prove them wrong. She WILL spend a night in the woods. In fact, she invites all her friends to have a camp-out with her in the woods overnight. Not wanting to seem like cowards, her friends agree. And you know what? The woods really aren’t that bad at all!
Until it gets dark.
Then Nadine and her friends get lost and separated from each other, and only Nadine can save the day.
about the author
Jill Esbaum grew up in a small town in eastern Iowa and lived a happy childhood, give or take the odd, tragic accidents that took most of her pet cats.
She loved reading, and read everything she could get her hands on—after she got glasses. Before, she could not really tell what trees were (her eyes were that bad). They looked kind of like green blobs, or like a tortoise shell stuck up on a pole. After she got her glasses, and could see individual leaves, then she discovered she could read words both near and far away. She began making up stories while on her frequent family trips, making up tales about children and wild animals while in her sleeping bag. Unfortunately, none of her friends seemed to like her stories, so she stopped telling them.
Then, 30 years later and reading stories to her own kids, Jill remembered how much she loved making up stories, and a little voice whispered inside her, “Think you could do this?” After she stopped fighting that voice, Jill signed up for a community college writing class, and felt happier than she had in a long time, though she didn’t know she hadn’t been that happy at all.
Now she writes full time, lives on a beautiful farm with her husband not fifteen miles from her home town, and still reads everything she can get her hands on.
Source:
Author website
Also by Jill Esbaum:
Teeny Tiny Toady. Sterling Publishing. 2016.
Elwood Bigfoot : Wanted : Birdie Friends! Sterling Publishing. 2015.
I Hatched! Dial. 2014.
Tom’s Tweet. Knopf Books for Young Readers. 2011.
Stanza. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2009.
about the illustrator
Gus Gordon grew up on a farm in Australia, and after he graduated high school, he worked on cattle stations all across the country. Then he decided to pursue a career in drawing and illustration. Moving to Sydney, Gus studied at the Julian Ashton School of Art, and in 1996 he illustrated his first children’s book, and today he has over 80 books for children under his belt! He illustrates for small people, and also older people who like small people’s books.
Gus likes cheese, books, art, music, and wine. Lots of wine. He lives with his wife and their three kids on the Northern beaches of Sydney.
Source:
Illustrator website
Also by Gus Gordon:
Herman and Rosie. Roaring Brook Press. 2013.
read more!
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Cow’s interest is piqued when a farmer puts a For Sale sign on his red car. When the farmer’s leaves, she jumps in and roars off. “Mooo…!” She tools through the green hills as she “Moooooos…” And when the car crashes into a police car, she says to the officer, “Moo-moo! Moo-moomoo- moo!” But what will her excuse be to the farmer?
Otis and the Puppy by Loren Long
Otis the tractor loves to be “It” when he and his friends play hide and seek. When the new pup lets his attention wander during the game and gets lost in the woods, Otis goes looking for him. But when it gets dark, Otis gets scared. Realizing the pup is scared too, Otis takes a deep breath and counts to ten. Now he’s ready for a very important game of hide-and-seek.
Tom’s Tweet by Jill Esbaum
Tom, a big tom cat, is on the prowl for a tasty morning snack. He spies Tweet, but Tweet is so skinny, and his eyes are so like big black buttons, that Tom cannot bring himself to eat Tweet. He also cannot bring himself to leave Tweet where he found him—now it seems Tom and Tweet are stuck with each other as friends.