Petal the Angry Cow - Maureen Fergus - ★★★★

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AUTHOR: Maureen Fergus
ILLUSTRATOR: Olga Demidova
GENRE: Children's Picture Book
PUBLICATION DATE: January 11, 2022
RATING: 4 stars.

You’ve heard of the Angry Birds but have you ever seen an angry cow? Well, your dream comes true with this book! 😉

Petal the cow is a lovely soul. She paints, she dances, she cares for her friends when they need help…But the one personality law that she has is that she has a short fuse. Because of this bad temper, she falls in trouble many times. One fine day, the farmer decides that enough is enough and as a penalty, he won’t take Petal on the planned picnic to the water park. (Animals going to the water park! 😂😂😂😂) Petal realises that her temper gets her into trouble and she needs to start dealing with it. But is it that easy?

I loved the story to a great extent. Petal the cow is adorable and so are the other farm animals. All of them are shown with personified human talents and hobbies so it’s a fun story. Having so many animals in the storyline is a great advantage as kids enjoy such narratives.

The moral that the book tries to put across is quite obvious: it is not worth it to lose your temper for every small reason. What I appreciated is that the book doesn’t just say, don’t get angry but offers practical ideas of how Petal responded to anger-inducing situations. There’s a lot to learn from the ‘before’ and ‘after’ behaviours of Petal.

The illustrator of this book is born and brought up in Russia, and that old-world touch that the Russian fairy tales of my childhood had is very evident in this book. The illustrations aren’t cute but quirky, and they aren’t overly vivid but shaded in cute pastel effects. They add to the book perfectly.

The book is written in simple prose, thereby making it a great option for bedtime reading or even for school read-alouds.

Where the book falls short:
1. There is a swan who doesn’t behave properly. His behaviour verges on the border of spoilt tantrums and won’t be a great example for little ones. Parents/Guardians would need to explain how this kind of behaviour is very toxic.
2. The word ‘stupid’ and ‘dummy’ are used in the story by one animal. Well, if you don’t want your child to learn these, then you will need to edit your way around them while reading the book aloud.
I would have gladly ignored the first point but am not too sure how to feel about the second. Bad words in young children’s books are always a risky proposition.

My thanks to Penguin Random House Canada, Tundra Books, and NetGalley for the ARC of “Petal the Angry Cow”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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