Kid Lit Village: COW SAYS MEOW

Hello Readers! Today on the Kid Lit Village blog series we are featuring author, Kirsti Call and her new book, COW SAYS MEOW, illustrated by Brandon James Scott. COW SAYS MEOW is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021.

A humorous picture book filled with wordplay and mixed-up onomatopoeia, Cow Says Meow features bold graphic art, silly animals, and unique cover cut-outs at the front and back.
 

Cow says . . . Meow!
Cat says . . . Neigh!
. . . or does it?

With bold graphic art and a punny narrator, this zany picture book is full of outrageously mixed-up animal sounds. Puns and wordplay will leave readers giggling through the roller-coaster of sounds all the way to the final pages featuring the correct animal noises. Cow Says Meow is a perfect read aloud for home, the classroom, or anywhere else, and will delight fans of Cece Bell’s I Yam a Donkey and David Ezra Stein’s Interrupting Chicken.

Tell us why you write books for children.

For as long as I can remember, books have been my friends, my escape, my joy. Going to the library was (and is!) the highlight of my week. I write for children because I know how books taught me and changed me. I hope my books evoke emotion, help, teach or change the kids who read them.

I love the library too and I loved taking my children there when they were little.

Tell us about the inspiration for your book.
I wrote COW SAYS MEOW because of a joke that always evoked peals of laughter from my five kids when they were little. I took the idea of mixed up animal sounds, added wordplay and a confused narrator, and voila! I’m also thrilled with Brandon James Scott’s illustrations which add so much expression and humor to the book.

I think it is cool that you mix up the sounds. Laughter is the best medicine.

What do you hope readers will gain from your book?
I hope kids will connect with their parents as they read this COW SAYS MEOW together. I hope they will laugh together, and I hope they keep telling the joke of mixed up animal sounds long after they’ve finished reading.

Thanks for the interview, Kirsti and congratulations on the publication of this fun story. I’m sure it will bring a love and laughter to children and their parents’ lives.

Kirsti’s Virtual Book Launch is March 16th, 7pm EST with Unlikely Story.  Register here: https://www.anunlikelystory.com/event/cowsaysmeow

Kirsti’s website:  www.kirsticall.com

twitter: https://twitter.com/kirsticall

Thank you for stopping by Kid Lit Village this week! I hope you’ll find ways to support these authors any way you can: request their books at the library, share on your social media, add their book to your Goodreads to-read list, or leave them a review.

And next week stop by for our spring giveaway! Kristi and several other authors are participating. Win a signed book or maybe a critique from some of our participating authors!