Until the Cows Come Home

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In her first book, author/photographer Mills pairs an uncomplicated, honed-down text with evocative hand-colored photographs. With a languid, antique quality, text and pictures guide readers past cows grazing, laundry hung out to dry, vegetables at a roadside stand and a coal train rumbling along ``as a sweet wind moves through the fields.'' The well composed (if somewhat listless) photographs seem removed from time--a lantern-bearing girl (one of only three figures glimpsed in the book) in a long dress and ribboned straw hat could be from the turn of the century; a boy playing at a stream suggests Tom Sawyer. Attractively designed (heavy, cream-colored stock adds to the book's nostalgia), this work, while admirably intentioned, exhibits drab coloration; the absence of much activity may make it more suitable for adults than for children. Ages 5-8. (Mar.)

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-- Exquisite, hand-colored photographs give this photo essay a nostalgic look. The single line of prose on each page describes the depicted scene. It is not a farm story, as the title might imply, although there are several fetching images of cows, domestic sunflower fields, and huge round bales of hay. Rather, it is almost a random sampling of country sights--bluebirds, coneflowers, a solitary biker, rag rugs flapping on the line, a self-service vegetable stand. In an afterword, Mills writes: ``I hope that in a quiet way this book will open children to the simple pleasures and the great beauty of unspoiled rural life.'' It will. And it will also provide a satisfying visual experience. --Lee Bock, Brown County Public Libraries, Green Bay, WI