It's Milking Time

February 1, 2012
On a Midwestern dairy farm, a young girl helps her father with the daily milking chores, leading their Holsteins to the barn, feeding the calves, shoveling manure and washing up. The refrain, "Every morning, every night, / it's milking time," emphasizes the repetitive nature of dairy farm chores, done "Every day of the week, / every week of the month, / every month of the year." In short lines set on full-bleed, double-page paintings, the narrator describes the process. These cows are milked serially with a single milking machine. Pail by pail, the foamy milk is poured into cans, which are set into a cooler and later trucked away. Paddles help carry off manure, but the feeding, straw-spreading and washing up are done by hand. This farm is not yet entirely mechanized. The subdued colors of Fancher and Johnson's soft acrylics add to the sense of dreamy reminiscence. Though there are still small farms where milking happens like this, few children, today, have had a chance to drink their own fresh milk with morning pancakes, nor have their mothers skimmed off the cream for coffee. This fond memory from the author's own childhood should find a place on shelves right next to Carole Foskett Cordsen's The Milkman, illustrated by Douglas B. Jones (2005). It's a lovely, poetic picture. (Picture book. 4-7)

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April 1, 2012

K-Gr 4-At once both reminiscent and contemporary, this narrative poem tells the twice-daily story of milking time. It creates a clear picture of a small family dairy farm, weaving in facts without interfering in the artistry. The careful choice of words alerts all the senses-smell, touch, sight, hearing, and even taste. "Cuds a-chewing, /tails a-swatting, /hooves a-pounding, /into the barnyard they trudge." Readers will also feel the strong tie between father and daughter (and the cows) as they share this routine chore. Realistic watercolor paintings enrich the text with the soft, mellow light of a summer evening. Whether being dwarfed by a large cow or feeling the warm breath of a calf, readers are pulled into the compositions and become participants. Both city and farm children will appreciate the satisfaction of a job well done-"Every morning, every night, it's milking time."-Carolyn Janssen, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2012
Grades K-2 Alsdurf grew up on a dairy farm in southern Minnesota and it shows. Every note of this gentle, yet never patronizing, story of how milk is retrieved from cows is authentic, and it's exactly these specifics that will be eye-opening to young readers: how the stanchions are lowered to keep the cows in place, how the teats are washed, how the milkers are attached with leather straps, and so forth. The story follows a little girl helping her father with the daily milking chores, a task of comforting repetition. Throughout, she repeats the same phrase: Every morning, every night, it's milking time. Just as fine as the detailed descriptions is Alsdurf's way of conjuring the slow, quiet texture of farm life: The air is hot, heavy. Overhead a fan whirs. Tails swishing, the cows chomp and chew their cud. Johnson and Fancher's dusty watercolors lend the grit of a family farm a halcyon hue and match Alsdurf's realism at every step. A nicely understated glimpse at a life fewer and fewer kids are likely to see.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2012
From the moment we see the Holstein-spotted endpapers we're transported to life on a dairy farm with its unending cycle: "Every morning, every night, / its milking time." Readers unfamiliar with the routines depicted will be pleasantly enlightened. Both text and art are quietly soothing and filled with interesting details.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)