Baaa

Okay, yes, it's clear that there are some elements taken from the larger body of apocalyptic fable, but I dare you to get to the line about mint sauce without falling in love with this Gorey-Orwelly tale.

Then stop and think a minute: all this fiction, especially in graphic novel format, coming out now and talking about human beings reclaiming cities after massive disasters: some of it discusses shortages and the repercussions of shortages, but who else is talking about the dangers of rapid *growth*? We're all still operating under this idea that a reduced population would re-learn civilization, but it's as naive as thinking Tarzan could learn to be Lord Greystoke. We are consumers. Everything we can invent, we make and consume. Exactly show more what would stop us from using everything up after a disaster - all the food, all the clothes, all the manufactured goods, each other, the stockpiled missiles, all of it?

Again, who calculates the economic effects of can-do fantasy worlds? I asked the question about steampunk, and I asked it about The Walking Dead, and I ask it again now. Who pays when the present surfeit runs low, and how much will people use, and who gets to decide which people get to use what? Do you trust anyone, anyone in the world, to negotiate these things with you? show less

In this dark book, we learn that people have disappeared. Sheep begin to act more and more like people, but they repeat the same mistakes. Definitely more appropriate for older kids.

A black satire with a powerful message. After the last person has gone from the earth, sheep take over the world, make the same mistakes as man, until they too disappear.

There is a Jonathan-Swift style solution to overpopulation and hunger, which hastens the sheep's downfall. The cartoon drawings are amusing, but the ending is a bleak warning to conserve our scarce resources, choose sustainable development, save the environment etc.
Might be good for high school students studying global economics and the environment.

kind of scary in a sickening sort of way. Not for the faint of heart. Macaulay's line drawings, however are terrific. The cute pictures at the beginning belie the heavy story and scary ending.

A flock of sheep move into an abandoned town and begin to act like humans. Social commentary is achieved throughout the progression of the book.

The book would be a great example of social commentary for older elementary students and would compliment the discussion of George Orwell's ANIMAL FARM.

"Baaa" by David Macaulay is about sheep that take over the world after the last person is gone. The sh3eep eventually fall into the same patterns that humans previous to them did. It is an intersting and powerful children's book.