Moo: A Novel

By Sharon Creech

This uplifting New York Times bestseller reminds us that if we’re open to new experiences, life is full of surprises.

Fans of Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech’s Love That Dog and Hate That Cat will love her newest tween novel, Moo. Following one family’s momentous move from the city to rural Maine, an unexpected bond develops between twelve-year-old Reena and one very ornery cow.

When Reena, her little brother, Luke, and their parents first move to Maine, Reena doesn’t know what to expect. She’s ready for beaches, blueberries, and all the lobster she can eat. Instead, her parents “volunteer” Reena and Luke to work for an eccentric neighbor named Mrs. Falala, who has a pig named Paulie, a cat named China, a snake named Edna—and that stubborn cow, Zora.

This heartwarming story, told in a blend of poetry and prose, reveals the bonds that emerge when we let others into our lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Aug 30, 2016
• ISBN: 9780062415271

Sharon Creech

Sharon Creech has written twenty-one books for young people and is published in over twenty languages. Her books have received awards in both the U.S. and abroad, including the Newbery Medal for Walk Two Moons, the Newbery Honor for The Wanderer, and Great Britain’s Carnegie Medal for Ruby Holler. Before beginning her writing career, Sharon Creech taught English for fifteen years in England and Switzerland. She and her husband now live in Maine, “lured there by our grandchildren,” Creech says. www.sharoncreech.com

Book preview

THAT ZORA

The truth is, she was ornery and stubborn, wouldn’t listen to a n y b o d y, and selfish beyond selfish, and filthy, caked with mud and dust, and moody: you’d better watch it or she’d knock you flat.

That’s Zora I’m talking about. Nobody wanted anything to do with her.

Zora: that cow.

BUT FIRST, BEFORE ZORA . . .

I am Reena, twelve years and two months old, formerly of a big city, a city of monuments, and people of many colors, a harlequin city

of sights and noises,

of museums and parks and music

and cockroaches and rats

and mosquitoes and crickets

and fireworks and traffic

and helicopters whopping overhead

and sirens screaming through the air

and that’s how we lived for a time

me and my parents and brother

zzzoooooooooommmming

on the

subway

or creeeeeping along in buses or cars

in

to

and

around

the city

trawling through the museums

ogling

the dinosaurs and artifacts

ambling through the zoo

listening to the ROARS and SCREEEEEECHES

and scrabbles and warbles

staring at the l a z y crawls

of bored animals.

Yes, for a time that’s how we lived.

FLIGHT PATH

Then one day, when we were stuck in traffic

behind a tall gray bus spewing exhaust

with horns HONKing

and people YELLing

and sirens WAILing—

on a day that was hotter than hotter than HOT

my mother asked my father a question.

A question can swirl your world.

My parents had recently lost their jobs when the newspaper they worked for went out of business. We were on our way to drop my father off at another job interview.

So, my mother said, do you still like reporting?

Not so much, my father admitted.

Is that what you see yourself doing ten years from now?

Um—

Because that’s the flight path we’re on.

I was sitting in the backseat with my brother, Luke, a seven-year-old complexity. Sometimes he acted as if he were two, and sometimes twelve. He was full of questions and energy and opinions except when you wanted him to have any of those things.

Luke was drawing with a black marker in the yellow notebook that was nearly always with him. He drew for hours and hours: contorted heroes leaping and jumping and vaporizing; bizarre enemies with gaping mouths and sharp talons and horns; and complicated towns with alleys and bridges and dungeons.

In the car, when Mom said, Because that’s the flight path we’re on, Luke said, Flight path? We’re not in an airplane, you know. We’re in a car and we’re on a road, but I noticed that he was adding a runway and an airplane to his drawing.

Drivers all around us were HONKing their horns like crazy, and the smells and the heat and the NOISE were pouring in the windows and

squeezing us

from all sides.

Let’s get out of here, my mother said.

My father took his hands off the wheel and raised his palms to the sky.

No, I mean out of this city, my mother said.

Let’s move.

To—?

Maine! I said.

My parents turned to look at me.

Then they looked at each other.

Then they looked at me again.

Maine! they said. Of course!

My parents had met in Maine many years ago

and when they spoke of Maine

their voices had the glint of sea and sky.

In the car that day,

Maine just popped out of my head.

I hadn’t expected they would take me seriously.

I’m glad I didn’t say Siberia.

WHICH IS HOW . . .

Which is how I came to meet Zora, though not quite so easily as it might sound because first we had to give our landlord a month’s notice and then we had to clear out all our closets and cupboards and the dreaded storage garage. Then we had to lug some of that outside for a yard sale and the rest to the Salvation Army and then we had to clean and watch as future renters tromped through our rooms noting

how small they were and how old

and how dark and

it

was

embarrassing.

And then there was the packing and moving of the beds and clothes and books and pots and pans—oh, it hurts my head to remember it so let’s skip it.

PEOPLE SAID . . .

My parents’ friends said

Are you crazy?

and

It gets cold in Maine, you know.

and

There are giant mosquitoes in Maine.

and

It gets cold in Maine, you know.

and

Why? Why? Why?

But some others said

They have lots of lobsters there.

and

Great blueberries in Maine!

and

Beautiful ocean and mountains!

and

Great skiing!

and

Lots of lobsters!

Lots of blueberries!

Though . . . it does get cold there

you know?

Luke said

How did this happen

this moving thing?

In his yellow notebook

Luke drew a winged dragon

scaled in gold

flying through purple skies

grasping a house, a car,

beds, tables, and chairs

in its black talons.

WHY MAINE?

Why did I say Maine! that day?

Let’s move to Maine!

Because I’d read a book about it—

three books in fact:

two were stories about a family’s life

on an island in Maine

and one was a book of photographs

of rocky shores and lighthouses

and vast oceans with breaking waves

and high blue mountains

and while I was reading those books

and looking at those pictures

I was there already

in my mind.

I was clambering over rocks

and wading in the ocean.

I was hiking up a mountain

and standing at the top

peering down the steep hillsides

to the ocean beyond.

I was there.

Maine.

It had such a sound to it

such a feel.

And yet . . .

I’d always lived in the city

I was full of buses and subways

and traffic and tall buildings

and crowds of people

and city noises

honking and sirens and

helicopterwhirring

and city smells

Reviews for Moo

[lindamamak · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One her best book yet.

[donnamariemerritt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A delightful novel-in-verse about two city kids moving to Maine, expectations, judging others too quickly, and appreciating people for their unique contributions. Told in "Creechingly sweet" style, of course!

[bookwren · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Can a gruff old woman and an ornery cow help the new kids in a new town? Mrs. Falala and Zora just might, if Reena and Luke give them a chance. In verse-like chapters with lots of widely spaced lettering, Newbery winner Sharon Creech immerses readers in the sights, sounds and especially the smells of a coastal Maine town and its cast of eccentric characters: two-legged, four-legged and winged. Though short, this book packs in many themes, including friendship, showmanship, work ethics, responsibility and privacy.

[m.belljackson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

MOO is a great tale, with a lot of fun poetry, of a family's move from the city to rural Maine.Animal and friendships abound around a cantankerous old woman who they come to care for.What I wish was not in the book: 1. unquestioning cruelty of stretching the heifers necks to make them presentable to human judges2. the father's unthinking comment about eating his kids - when the kids see Goya's SATURN DEVOURING HIS CHILDREN, they will be horrified to remember his words

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When 12-year old Reena moves with her family from NYC to Maine, she has to make some major adjustments -- new friends, life at a slower pace, and trying to understand that Maine drawl! But she learns her biggest lessons from Zora, an ornery and cantankerous cow, who teaches Reena the power of community, friendship, and family. Uplifting and powerful!

[ewyatt_16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reena and Luke go with the flow when their parents announce a sudden move to Maine. It's a big change from city life, and bigger still when their folks volunteer them to help Mrs. Falala on her farm. They work with Zora. The embrace country life and over time learn to deal with Mrs. Falala - Luke gets to know her more than Reena through their art. A sweet, quick read.

[shannonrose4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Who knew that a Moooo from a ornery old cow could warm your heart? When Reena and her family move from the big city to Maine on a whim, they have no idea how Zora; a Belted Galloway cow (a cow that looks like a Oreo cookie!) and her quirky italian owner will change their lives and their family forever.
A delightful, heartwarming read!

[lenorer-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fans of Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech’s Love That Dog and Hate That Cat will love her newest tween novel, Moo. This uplifting tale reminds us that if we’re open to new experiences, life is full of surprises. Following one family’s momentous move from the city to rural Maine, an unexpected bond develops between twelve-year-old Reena and one very ornery cow.

When Reena, her little brother, Luke, and their parents first move to Maine, Reena doesn’t know what to expect. She’s ready for beaches, blueberries, and all the lobster she can eat. Instead, her parents “volunteer” Reena and Luke to work for an eccentric neighbor named Mrs. Falala, who has a pig named Paulie, a cat named China, a snake named Edna—and that stubborn cow, Zora.

This heartwarming story, told in a blend of poetry and prose, reveals the bonds that emerge when we let others into our lives.

I really enjoyed reading this book with my son. The characters were written in a way that I felt that I knew them, they were my neighbors, the family next door. Being from Maine and not have been "home" in years, this book makes me want to go back to Maine and visit small farms and coastal towns. Drive the back roads and look for the livestock grazing in pastures along the sides of the road. Maybe a goal for a road trip very soon.

[brooke mingenback · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was amazing I loved you and she found wishbone this is one of my new favorite books you should really read it I would tell you about it but it’s so good I don’t want to spoil it??

[mrsdruffel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

MOO is a tale about an ornery cow. Well, not really. It’s more about how we perceive people, how we treat those we do not know much about. It is a story of growth, love, kindness, and more. Author, Sharon Creech, writes a character who puts up such a strong emotional barrier, but not strong enough for the family that decides to show the little old woman a little kindness. And they do not give up on her. Written in such a poetic way, MOO will stick with you long after you place it back on the shelf.