"Clop...two...three...four..."
What difference can one cow make in the world? Turn the calendar back 150 years or so and imagine you're a young man in Indiana headed down to the enlistment office to sign up to fight for the Union Army in the American Civil War. It takes a lot of courage and loyalty to the country to join the battle. More than likely you are not expecting your cow to come to sign up, too.
Teaching the Civil War to our upper elementary aged children can sometimes turn into an exercise in places and dates and filling in the blanks. What makes history come alive is when it's about people... as in his story...or her story. This book holds the power to invite children into their history...the history of the country they live in. It's all about a cow. What's a cow doing in the American Civil War? Is this a true story? Did this really happen?
The potential for questions can create a wonderful path..delivering us straight to the station called Inquiry. Best learning ever happens when the mind is open to learning.
We don't know the name of the cow but we do know she stuck it out with "her" regiment come flies, frost, mud, starvation and musket balls.
This could be the voice of your great-great-great somebody telling an old piece of family lore. Turns out the men in blue had a freind, a guardian cow, a giver of milk, trudging along with them no matter what. There's a deep sense of affection in every line and a bit of a chuckle to boot.
Friendship and hardship walk hand in hand and make this a brilliant pathway through this essential chapter in American history.
978-0763622633 Ages 6-9 32 pages
Editor's Note: previously published in hardcover in 2007; this is a paperback edition released in 2016
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com
