Myron's Magic Cow

Horn Book (Horn Book Guide, Spring 2006)
Sent to the store yet again, Myron meets a mysterious curly-haired girl who sells him a cow--a magic cow, no less, that supplies not only the milk his mother needs but also three wishes. Packed with classic fairy-tale references, this story is made even more outlandish by the modern urban setting evoked in Jago's subdued illustrations. Category: Picture Books. 2005, Barefoot, 40pp, 16.99. Ages 4 to 9. Rating: 3: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.

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Gregory A. Martin" " (Library Media Connection, March 2006" ")
Myron is sent off to the store (again!) when his mother needs milk for pancakes, but this trip turns out to be unlike any other he has made. Children will enjoy the fairy tale references, as Myron meets a golden-haired girl who sells him a huge cow that she got from a boy named Jack for a handful of beans, and who then drives off in a car with three bears. A perplexed-looking Myron must then get the cow home, give his mother some milk, and determine what to do about the cow. To Myron's dismay and relief, though, the cow turns out to be a magic cow that solves Myron's multiple dilemmas by providing him with three wishes. The cow grants Myron's third wish, that someone else would have to go to the store once in a while, by giving him a large golden egg. Although younger children may need help understanding how the egg will fulfill that wish, the book's ending could provide an opportunity to encourage some creative thinking about what might happen next in Myron's life. First-time author Marlene Newman's entertaining text is complemented by Jago's colorful but subdued artwork that nicely captures the essence and moods of the story." "Recommended." "2005, Barefoot Books, 40pp., $16.99 hc.." "Ages 6 to 9." "

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News@www.adoption-net.co.uk
Story published on July 4, 2006

Myron's Magic Cow by Marlene Newman, illustrated by Jago
Myron is fed up - he feels like he has to do all the errands around the house. Whenever his mum needs anything from the shops it’s always Myron that has to go because his sister is too small and his brother too busy!

On this particular occasion his mother, who is making pancakes and needs milk, decides to send Myron on yet another errand.

On his walk to the store a blonde girl resembling Goldilocks (who was travelling in a car with three bears) stops Myron and tells him she knows about his milk woes. Bewildered how the girl could know this, Myron listens as the girl offers to sell him an enormous cow.

After a rather forced sale Myron has to try and get the disagreeable cow home. He eventually appeases the cow, discovering she is grateful Myron rescued her from the bears. In return the cow offers Myron three wishes.

The quirky illustrations are great and really enhance the story which cleverly links with other classic short stories for children. My children really enjoyed the book and my six-year-old could read a good part of the text.

Published by Barefoot Books RRP £10.99

Reviewed by Martyn Barker, father of two boys
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In this faintly surreal urban episode, young Myron is unwillingly dispatched to buy a container of milk, and returns to his apartment with a huge cow-purchased from a glib blonde, who claims she bought it for a handful of beans before speeding away in a car with three bears. Hauling his find down the street and up the stairs, Myron discovers that she not only gives milk (once he uses the Magic Word), but can talk-"Don't let it get around. We've always been able to talk."-and will grant three wishes. Luckily, Mom's in the kitchen making pancakes, which gives Myron time to figure out his wish. Jago plays this scenario straight (more or less), placing a small, brown-skinned lad and an outsized bovine in a neighborhood of well-spaced walkups, all overlaid with an arty-looking smudge that looks like old varnish. Myron wastes his first wish, but uses the other two wisely, whereupon the cow vanishes, leaving behind a golden present. A deft, daffy, thought-provoking debut for Newman.
Kirkus Reviews

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"Different, deadpan and surreal is Myron's Magic Cow, a modern inner-city fable -- great for reception age. They will thoroughly enjoy the way actions have consequences--sometimes wryly unpredictable." Sonia Benster The Bookseller May 27,2005

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Plaudits must go to Barefoot Books, though, for the season's most colourful and consistently high-quality titles. They are responsible for Myron's Magic Cow (£10.99). the story - by first-timer Marlene Newman - is wonderfully served by illustrator Jago's pictures. It incorporates genies, Jack and the beanstalk, Ali Baba and a golden egg. And all in the course of a trip to the shops for a carton of milk.
The Independent & 2005 Independent News & Media (UK) Ltd. Sunday 07 August 2005

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Mundane reality and the fantastic combine as a boy encounters some familiar characters in Newman's fanciful debut. When Myron's mother sends him for milk ("Out of the apartment, down the hall, into the elevator, through the lobby and up the busy street he went"), British artist Jago uses five panel illustrations to heighten the drama in the routine errand, hinting that bigger things await. Surprise indeed lurks around the corner: a blonde girl with a giant cow approaches Myron, explaining, "A dopey guy who said his name was Jack just traded her with me.... You need milk and I need money so let's cut a deal." Myron suddenly finds himself holding the cow's leash while the girl and three bears zoom off in a car. On the way home the cow talks, then reveals herself to be a genie, granting Myron three wishes (e.g., someone else has to run errands for a while). Jago's uncluttered full bleed spreads and carefully framed vignettes charmingly convey the extraordinary in the ordinary, as when Myron, calling "I'll be there in a minute, Mama," sits on a stool milking the cow whose leash hangs from the apartment radiator. If the tale takes a circuitous route, the artwork stays right on target, credibly integrating imaginative elements into a child's everyday world. Ages 7 9. (Sept.)
From Publisher’s Weekly 12/19/05

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A yellow-haired girl, whose traveling companions are three bears, is bad news. A surprise is in store for anyone who takes her up on her offer of a great deal on a cow. In addition to the humorous tone of the story, this can be a lesson to children to be careful about talking to strangers.

Myron feels like he is the only one Mama ever asks to go to the store when she runs out of something. Little does he know, but when she needs milk for pancakes one morning, Myron will bring home more than he went to the store to get. After some crafty trading on the part of the golden-haired con artist, Myron ends up amazed by an offer of his choice of milk. (“What’ll you have—regular, skim, or one percent?” Well spoken for a cow.)

The author spent nineteen years teaching elementary school reading, writing, and library skills in New York, and enjoying every type of book that libraries had to offer. While Myron’s Magic Cow is her first children’s book, she treasured the times she read with her children, grandchildren, and many students over the years. This story about a magical cow who grants a little boy’s wishes was originally written as a play for students. The real magic that Newman shares is her love of words.

The illustrator’s art has graced many children’s books with fairy tale-like themes. While most of his work is at least partially digitalized, he adds a personal feel by harmonizing paint, photography, and pencil for his unique style. His artwork evokes a giddy reaction with mysterious undertones. Jago may be best known for his children’s artwork in Brave Tales, Ltd. books like Tom and the Giant, Madgy Figgy’s Pig, and Lutey and the Mermaid.

Throughout Myron’s Magic Cow, smart-aleck repartee from skewed fairytale characters erupts. (“‘Listen,’ the girl continued, ‘there are already three bears in my car and the cow just won’t fit. You need milk and I need money—so let’s cut a deal.’”) As one storybook figure after another shows up, Myron is in the dark about most of their identities. He just wants to get to the store and back so his mom can make the pancakes. Excitement is just around the corner when his newfound friend, the magic cow, offers him three wishes.

In the tradition of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, Myron’s Magic Cow will make reading fun, and some kids may offer to run errands for their mothers.
(December)ForeWord Magazine

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During an ordinary (and reluctant) trip to the store for milk, Myron meets a pushy blonde who trades him a cow for money, then takes off in a bright pink car with three bears. Astonished city kid Myron (who has never seen let alone owned a real cow) is even more surprised when the cow begins to speak and grant wishes, Audiences will quickly recognize that there is some fairy tale spoofery going on; while this type of satire is familiar, Myron's tale highlights the absurd, bringing familiar characters (Jack, Goldilocks, the bears) to a city setting and confronting hapless but unfazeable Myron with bizarre circumstances, while never losing sight of the child centered concern that his mom is waiting for milk,… Myron's final wish that "someone else would have to go to the store once in a while" is pure kid think, and the story has just the right level of tongue-in cheek humor. Jago's striking illustrations offer a bold color palette (muted and textured by darker dragging and background marbling) and naively drawn figures and objects; the sparse layouts and skewed scale (the vast backgrounds and the large, boxy cow loom over tiny Myron) add to the surreal feel of the story. Imaginative kids who use make believe to counteract the drudgery of day to day life will especially enjoy seeing Myron's unusual encounter and eventual mini triumph. MH
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
University of Illinois

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K Gr 3 When Mama starts to make pancakes, she realizes she's out of milk, so she sends young Myron to the store. Out the apartment building and up the city street he goes, until he hears a call from the alley. It is from a girl who has a cow tied to a rope. She tells Myron that she traded the COW for some beans and grabs the five dollar bill from his hand before he can decide whether he wants to make a deal. He pulls the reluctant cow home and finds that this is no ordinary animal: she can talk and grant wishes. This fractured fairy tale is a fun read, placing Myron's story in an inner city setting, where the oversize cow stands out. Using a mixture of cartoon style frames and full spreads, Jago deftly employs shadow and perspective to bring the story to life. His folklike, digitally prepared, mixed media illustrations complement the telling well, but there are some inconsistencies. For example, on the next to last page, Myron is supposedly smiling from head to toe, but he looks perplexed instead. There is plenty here for units on folklore, and libraries should have no trouble moving the book off the shelf Angela J Reynolds, Annapolis Valley Regional Library, Bridgetown, NS, Canada
School Library Journal January 2006

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Today, it is our pleasure to inform you that we have selected the book Myron's Magic Cow by Marlene Newman and Jago published by Barefoot Books as one of the titles for The White Ravens 2006, our annual selection of outstanding international books for children and young adults, which will be presented at our stand at the Bologna Children's Book Fair. The books for this years exhibition, 250 titles in 32 languages from 47 countries, have been selected from the thousands of books that our library received as review copies from publishers, authors, illustrators, and organisations from all over the world within the last year. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue containing bibliographical data and annotations for each of the selected books. a copy of the catalogue will be available at hftp://www.ijb.de.

Newman, Marlene (text)
Jago (illus.)
Myron's magic cow
Bath, BA : Barefoot Books, 2005. – [44] p.
ISBN 1-84148-495-4
Boy – Shopping – Cow – Wish – Magic
Since his two siblings are either too busy or too little to help his mother, it is always Myron who gets sent on errands. On his way to the supermarket, he bumps into a bossy blond girl who grabs his shopping money, pushes a rope in his hands to which a huge cow is tied, and jumps into her car with three bears in it, disappearing »down the street in a cloud of smelly black smoke«, before he can react. What is he to do with a real-life cow in the middle of the city – and a talking, wish-granting cow at that? The amusing, imaginative story with various fairy tale elements is perfectly complemented by large, sometimes comic-book-like illustrations. The pictures with their angular shapes, rendered digitally in a mixed technique, superbly mirror the surreal touch of the story. (4+)


from the Jugendbuchbibliothek in Munich

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Myron’s Magic Cow is by Marlene Newman of Delmar and beautifully illustrated by Jago (Barefoot Books; 40 pages; $16.95). This picture book melds elements from some familiar fairy and folk tales (“Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” and “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”) into its own fun tale. Newman has been an elementary school teacher for 19 years, and “Myron’s Magic Cow is her first book. A boy who must go to the store for some milk encounters a blond girl who already has three bears to contend with and managed to end up with a cow as well. (A kid named Jack handed the cow off to her.) The wise-cracking cow, by the way, steals the show. For kindergarten through grade 3.
Donna Liquori, Albany Times Union Sunday, April 9, 2006

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Myron's Magic Cow, a contemporary fairy tale, is a delightfully quirky story about a boy who is sent out for milk and ends up with a magic talking cow. Marlene Newman weaves several traditional fairy tale characters into a new urban tale with a fresh voice and a new twist. And Jago's illustrations are contemporary European works of art. Myron's Magic Cow is a book for children and adults alike. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good fairy tale and quality artwork. (As a collector of children's picture books, I'd call it a "coffee table book.") J. MacDonald

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Newman has the rare talent that is able to both tease the imagination of the seven year old and satisfy the adult reader's inner child. Myron's physical and emotional world is accessible to a wide range of communities and is a must for every reading program, urban, suburban or rural. The illustrations wonderfully capture Newman's sense of wonder. This author must be the mother and teacher of some extraordinarily creative children and grandchildren. Can't wait for the next book!!!

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Myron doesn't like being the one who always has to go to the shops for his mother. But one Sunday, an ordinary errand to buy milk turns into a most unusual adventure when Myron meets a golden-haired girl travelling with three bears - and one real, life-sized cow. Before Myron knows what has happened, the girl has convinced him to trade his milk money for the cow! Children will identify with Myrons plight and everyone will enjoy the story as adventure and humour. The distinctive illustrations perfectly complement the quirky and playful storyline. This makes a fresh, playful addition to fairy tale collections in schools or at home.
British Arts Council

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Children's books and book reviews - reading resource for kids, teachers, librarians, parents
Myron's Magic Cow
by Marlene Newman, illustrated by Jago
Ages 4-8 40 pages Barefoot Books September 2005 Hardcover

With hints of fairy tales run amok, Myron’s Magic Cow is peopled by whimsical characters set in the framework of everyday life in the city as a little boy sets out to buy milk for his mother’s morning pancakes.

Five dollars clutched in his hand, Myron trudges the familiar blocks (with brilliant illustrations by artist Jago) until he meets a girl with curly blonde hair pulling a cow by a rope: “You need milk and I need money- so let’s cut a deal.” Hinting at the adventures ahead (the three bears waiting in the car), the girl trades Myron the cow for the five dollars and is on her way, leaving Myron to ponder the wisdom of his decision.

Myron pushes and pulls the uncooperative cow home, ignoring the stares as he passes, at a loss for how to transform this very large animal into the milk his mother needs. Much to his surprise, when Myron utters the magic word, “please”, the cow speaks. Myron’s decision is about to be rewarded by the amazing possibilities revealed by the cow.

Thereafter the story evolves into the realm of fantasy and imagination, Myron’s world transformed and his perceptions of reality changed by the magic behind the mundane. With its whimsical story and outstanding illustrations, this wonderful book explores the parameters of the imagination and the infinite boundaries of fantasy.

Myron’s Magic Cow is a product of a contemporary press, Barefoot Books, celebrating “art and story with books that open the hearts and minds of children from all walks of life, inspiring them to read deeper, search further and explore their own creative gifts.” Not to be missed!
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The author spent 19 years teaching elementary school reading, writing, and library skills in New York, and enjoying every type of book that libraries had to offer. While “Myron’s Magic Cow” is her first children’s book, she treasured the times she read with her children, grandchildren, and many students over the years. The story, which kicked around in her head for years, first emerged as a play in the late 70’s, starring her own fifth-grade students. That class of 11-year-olds made such an impression on her that Newman decided to dedicate the book to Michael Austin, the boy who played the lead role of Myron in that original school play (Mr. Austin has yet to be located: “I would be thrilled for him to know his character had become a book and that I remember him,” said Ms Newman...). “He was really the prototype of all the kids that I taught,” says Ms Newman. He was very sweet, gentle and soft-spoken, and he loved to act; he was a ham.”

Luan Gaines/2006 Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)
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“Imaginative kids who use make believe to counteract the drudgery of day to day life will especially enjoy seeing Myron's unusual encounter and eventual mini triumph.” Center for Children's Books, University of Illinois
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Myron's Magic Cow
Marlene Newman
Barefoot Books, 2006, $16.99
Colorfully rendered urban landscapes set the whimsical tone for longtime Woodstock resident Marlene Newman's first book, a creative retelling of the traditional genie story. An enormous, omniscient bovine, a little boy tired of running errands for his mother, and guest appearances from other fairy-tale denizens populate this quirky tale.

Book Gifts: A Hudson Valley Guide
Chronogram 12 2006

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