Gorgeous illustrations, a bit long and poetic but nice. Describing getting ready for a day at the farmers market. A hungry cow causes many problems. ( )

It would be fun for students to predict what is causing all the commotion in the market - what they think the cow is doing.
Illustrations could be studied with high school students. ( )

A cute poetic story of a family who goes to their local market day. Carol Foskett Cordsen has the Benson Family bring us to their local market day, and we learn of all the goods available. A nicely told poetic story is enhanced by the illustrations by Douglas B. Jones. A great choice for an young child's picture book collection. ( )

A story about a family that oversleeps on market day. The cow is the hero and saves the day, the family was so busy that the forgot to feed the cow. The illustations work well with the text. The words seem to fit together as almost in a rhyme.

Summary: A friendly family of farmers rush to open their booth at the local market and leave their farm gate open. While they set up at the market other booths are getting destroyed by the family's cow. When the family realizes the cow is loose they use an apple to lure the cow away. They seem content with the run-away cow when it is secured.
Response: This story was cute, but I think the family would be upset with the cow after all the trouble. They must have realized that the run-away cow was their own doing. Nice simple illustrations, but not exceptional.
Themes: Working together