The Smallest Cow in the World

The Smallest Cow in the World
By: Katherine Paterson
Illustrator: Jane Clark Brown
Fiction

This is a great book for children who have moved to a new town or school and may feel lonely or unhappy. A young boy named Marvin lives on a dairy farm with his parents and his sister May. While the family helps take care of the animals on the farm, Marvin grows particularly found of Rosie a cow that is disliked by everyone else for being mean. When Mr. Brock, the owner of the farm, decides to sell the land, Marvin's family must move to a new home. While everyone in Marvin's family found a new life filled with happiness, Marvin thought of Rosie and became sad. His parents tried to make him happy by offering him a kitten or a toy truck, but the only thing Marvin really wanted was to see Rosie again. Frustrated he acted out drawing on walls, pulling up the flowers in his mothers garden, but he blamed it all on Rosie. She had come back, but was now the smallest cow in the world because her last owner was a witch, who made her small for being so mean. When Marvin took his imaginary cow to school with him he got picked on by his classmates. May had the idea to tell Marvin that the imaginary Rosie was having a calf and she would have to stay home from school to take care of him. Marvin agreed and made sure that if they moved again that Rosie could always go with them. His family thought that sounded like a good idea and Marvin was happy that Rosie would never have to be alone again.

I loved that this book could be used to help children adapt to moving and how they can use their imagination when they feel alone. In the classroom, you could have your students think about and even write how they would feel if they moved to a new town and what kinds of things they would do to cheer themselves up. This can be a great lesson to show children that they should be appreciative when they see someone with a vivid imagination as opposed to picking on them.