K-Gr 2-This tongue-in-cheek story follows the adventures of a boy who decides to take his family's 500 cows on a visit to the Falls. Manny soon finds that moving the insouciant bovines is rather daunting as they pack their hay; sprawl aboard buses; sing a cow-centric version of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"; take over the rest areas; eat, play, and deposit some unwelcome-but udderly necessary-cow pies; and descend on the tourist attractions at their destination. When the bill from the shopaholic cows' visit to the gift shop threatens to bankrupt the boy, they pitch in by leaping over the Falls with buckets of milk that turns into butter, which they sell to eager tourists. All's well that ends well as Manny and the herd return home in cow-spotted limos-and readers see the recipe to shake their own butter into being. The crowded, breezy, watercolor-and-ink illustrations are similar in style to Susan Meddaugh's and William Steig's work. Becker throws in a few interesting mini-facts on cows and milking throughout the tale. ("A cow must be milked 2 times a day, which makes 10 gallons of milk each day. There are 350 squirts in each gallon. 350 squirts x 10 gallons x 500 cows=1,750,000 squirts every day!") Far-fetched? Yes. Silly? Definitely. But kids will find themselves laughing at and falling for this goofy story.-Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha's Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Manny's five hundred cows make themselves at home on a trip to Niagara Falls, where an unexpectedly large gift shop bill leads to a butter business inspired by Buttercup's trip over the falls. The book balances the absurdist humor well, squeezing in additional wit through sidebar ""facts"" and punny asides, while Becker's goofy, Boynton-esque cartoons spoof the cows' touristy ways. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Combining an udderly ridiculous scenario and real bovine factoids, Becker (All I Need to Know I Learned from My Cat) churns out a comic adventure inspired by a true incident. Farm boy Manny can never take a real vacation-not with 500 dairy cows to tend. Or can he? Armed with let's-go enthusiasm and the help of head cow Bossy, Manny loads up his herd for a bus tour to Niagara Falls. The cows have a sing-along, Flossie gets bus-sick, and Buttercup enjoins "Are we there yet?" as accompanying fact boxes provide details on how cows constantly spit up the cud they chew. The hilarious hoofers overwhelm a rest stop and don slickers for a view of the Falls before going on a gonzo shopping spree in the attraction's Official Gift Shop. Luckily, Bossy and Buttercup find an ingenious way to help Manny settle the damages. Becker's ink-and-watercolor illustrations, peppered with funny asides and thought bubbles, exude a zany, comic-book energy. The true and outlandish bits of the story will likely keep young readers laughing while they ponder cow behavior. As an interesting source note, a flap-copy item spotlights how a cow named Bossy Simms crossed the Falls to Goat Island in 1860. Ages 4-8. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

PreS-Gr. 2. Manny dreads the end of school each year, since you can't exactly go on vacation when you have five hundred cows. A suggestion from his teacher inspires the boy to herd all 500 bovines (a surprisingly talkative, opinionated bunch) onto buses and head for Niagara Falls. Alternately whiny and rambunctious, the cows enjoy the trip to the fullest, but when their riotous foray into a gift shop ends in disaster, they must use their resources creatively to set matters right. The over-the-top story, full of fun and laced with amusing visual and verbal details (as well as a bit of potty humor), is accompanied by occasional sidebar facts about dairy cattle. The cows' outrageous comments and antics are bolstered by free-spirited ink drawings brightened with color. With an ending that hints of future excursions for the adventurous cows, this book provides one wild vacation, with the possibility of more fun to come. --Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2006 Booklist

Inspired by a teacher's suggestion and weary of the udder sameness of a dairy farmer's year, young Manny impulsively bustles his 500 cows onto buses for an end-of-school excursion to Niagara Falls. Anyone who's taken a field trip with large groups of third-graders will know what to expect. Reluctant at first, the bovine brigade soon gets into the spirit of things, laughing hysterically at silly verses of "Old MacDonald," horsing around (so to speak) on the buses and piling out at a roadside stop for snacks and sodas. The last activity results in a massive cowtastrophe, as the long ride ends next to "the world's largest faucet," and not even Niagara's toilet facilities turn out to be quite up to handling 500 cross-legged vacationers at once. Becker illustrates the outing in light, sketchy views of rambunctious revelers thundering hither and yon on two legs, chattering and trading hilarious comments. Further disaster looms after the herd is let loose in the gift shop, but all ends happily with a smooooooth ride back to home pastures. Easily the most memorable ruminant retreat since David Kirby and Allen Woodman's The Cows Are Going To Paris (1991), illustrated by Chris Demarest. (Picture book. 6-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.