After noticing that Hilda Mae Heifer's moo sounds sad, her friends hold auditions to find her some musical accompaniment. However, once they amass a chorus of crooners, Hilda decides she's more cut out for dancing. Silly dialogue and goofy facial expressions give the animals great personality, while alliteration plus animal sounds make for an entertaining read-aloud experience. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

K-Gr 2-Hilda Mae Heifer is down in the dumps, and her moo sounds oh-so-blue. The extended farm family that helped her find her voice in Moo Who? (HarperCollins, 2004) recognize that they can't stand by while she sounds so low. Rather than listen to her tune-free wails-or plug their ears-they conclude that misery loves company and swiftly organize auditions for a chorus to harmonize with-or perhaps drown out-Hilda Mae's sad song. Each animal's moment in the spotlight features a familiar sound: "Baaa-baaa," "nay nay nay-nay-nay," "squeak squeak SQUEAK," "ribbit." The judges at the well-attended auditions are strangely reminiscent of those found, for instance, on American Idol: the rooster is always complimentary; the duck invariably cries, "You nailed it!" The pig finds fault; he's HARSH-while the cat calls, "Next!" When the cows come home, they learn that Hilda Mae has given up singing in favor of another talent. Palatini's prose is poetic, quirky, inventive, and just plain fun. If the words "baffled," "bewildered," and "befuddled" are called for, she plunks them down on the page. Graves escalates the sophisticated silliness with his wacky, superbly crafted, almost 3-D illustrations. (You've got to love Hilda Mae's huge red pompadour.) The gorgeous colors and absurd perspectives take this tale to another level. It's a great day at the farm.-Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.