I didn't realise this was a children's poem until I started reading it. Anyway, it was very pro-recycling and pro-natural fertilisers. The illustrations were unexpected though they were easily deciphered on my Kindle. The poem itself has a dull beginning before the meat of the story was introduced and it's rhyming pattern was hit and miss but it all came together for a smile-worthy ending. ( )

This book is awesome! For one, it is a great source of poetry to dive into rhyme and limerick. The use of cut paper for the illustrations is unique. While not an award-winning book, it would be a great resource to talk about the environment and where our waste (trash) goes when we throw it out. ( )

Summary of book:
This book, When Cows Fly by Tom Watson, is a poem about a young man, Jake, who gets everything that he needs from the earth. He shares with the animals around him and doesn’t like it when Mother Nature is disturbed. One morning, Jake is woken up by a dump truck discarding trash near his home. When he talks to the foreman about when the trash will no longer be put there, the foreman answers “when cows fly!” Jake heads home and grins when he sees his cows; after a meeting the next day, the cows fly east and poo all over the heaping mountain of trash and the foreman. The trash was never piled there again.

Personal reaction to the book:
This is a valuable lesson that students can learn about what is good for the environment! Although I’m not a tree-hugging lunatic I still believe that God put us on Earth to take care of it. As stewards of our planet, we should try to keep the earth habitable for everyone and everything. Some may say that Tom Watson’s poem is rough and that the poetry is forced, but to children, it was not. Young students take everything at face value. If there was cow poo all over the foreman, than there was poo; not manure or muck, but poo. The form of poetry used was a limerick. Although limericks are usually written in a five-line anapestic meters with a strict rhyme scheme, like aabba, Tom Watson used six lines. His rhyme scheme followed an aabccb formality rather than a usual six line scheme of aabbcc. When Cows Fly is not only hilarious but very productive for children to read and learn. Research shows that students who can recite poetry are better test takers. Therefore, if students are expected to recite poetry, then they will have a higher probability at being a better test taker than other students who do not have a bar set that high.

Extension idea:
1. Students will be asked to remember a certain section from the poem, When Cows Fly, and will recite it in front of the class.
2. For younger students, an extension may be that they can “fly” around like the cows from When Cows Fly before an activity and after the activity “walk” like normal cows.
3. Students in 5th grade and above can be asked to create their own six line limerick. The poem must include a rhyme scheme of aabccb or aabbcc formality. The poem may be serious or comical.
4. Students 1st grade and under can be given a coloring activity. They can be asked to color their cow in their preferred color. Once that is complete, the teacher can begin a discussion about what cows eat and drink, where they sleep, and what they can be used for.

This book is about a farmer named Jake and his cows. It begins by describing his life and all the things he enjoyed. They then began dumping trash by his house and he did not like it at all. The garbage man said it would stop when cows fly, so Jake made his cows fly. The garbage man stopped coming and he learned that earth is best in its natural form. This book is a great tool to teach children about garbage and recycling. The illustrations are fun and whimsical and could easily have been created by children. ( )

I downloaded this for free when I got my Kindle Fire to test out what it was like to read a picture book on the device. That worked out just fine and I got a good laugh as I read how Farmer Jake and his flying cows with their powerful poo saved the natural environment from a big pile of garbage! Cute! ( )