Thursday 8 June 2017
"The Cow Who Fell to Earth" by Nadia Shireen (Jonathan Cape PB)
Possibly because Nadia Shireen's "The Cow who Fell to Earth" is picked out in a Bowie-friendly colourscheme. Possibly because it apes the title of one of Bowie's most enigmatic movie roles, or possibly because I'm still obsessed by Bowie's impact on the world even though he's now sadly left it.
Anyway let's get back to this awesome book, featuring a very odd animal who crash lands on a farm one twinkly starry night.
The sheep don't understand this new visitor, the chickens - well they're a fat lot of help, they just steal his jetpack - and even the cows don't quite know what this new visitor is trying to say.
Dubbed "Dave" by the animals (despite actually being female), frustration ensues when it feels like they'll never be able to understand each other - that is until someone comes up with a bright idea that might just help "Dave" get rescued after all.
Subtle allegorical stuff on how it must feel to not share a mother tongue with folk you end up having to live alongside (which is obviously the type of book that's bang on topic for what's happening all around the world at the moment), this is a hugely original and thought provoking story that works equally well as a tale of a little girl (mooncow) lost and far away from home.
Oddly it left Charlotte completely cold (admittedly it really was written for kids a lot younger than her but she just didn't seem to get on with it at all, sadly).
I thought it was brilliant though and at least it gave me a good excuse to slap on a bit of Bowie once we'd finished reading.
"The Cow Who Fell to Earth" by Nadia Shireen is out now, published by Jonathan Cape PB (kindly supplied for review).
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