Product Description

At six o'clock every day, without fail, with no excuses, Sam Vimes must go home to read "Where's My Cow?", with all the right farmyard noises, to his little boy. There are some things you have to do. It is the most loved and chewed book in the world. But his father wonders why it is full of moo-cows and baa-lambs when Young Sam will only ever see them cooked on a plate. He can think of a more useful book for a boy who lives in a city. So Sam Vimes starts adapting the story. It is a story with streets, not fields. It is a book with rogues and villains and about the place where he'll grow up.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4247 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

From the Inside Flap
At six o’clock every day, without fail, with no excuses, Sam Vimes must go home to read Where's My Cow?, with all the right farmyard noises, to his little boy. There are some things you have to do.It is the most loved and chewed book in the world.

But his father wonders why it is full of moo-cows and baa-lambs when Young Sam will only ever see them cooked on a plate. He can think of a more useful book for a boy who lives in a city.

So Sam Vimes starts adapting the story. A story with streets, not fields. A book with rogues and villains. A book about the place where he’ll grow up.

About the Author
TERRY PRATCHETT is the acclaimed creator of the bestselling Discworld series, the latest of which is Going Postal, and now Thud!. He was appointed OBE in 1998.

Customer Reviews

a good way to get the kids hooked on reading
I've been reading this to my friends children and they love it. Especially the youngest. He likes to follow the story while I point at the words. He even stops me when I miss a bit or make a mistake.

I will be moving the older ones onto the "Tiffany Aching" books this week.

It's a great book for kids (and adults too).

Terry Pratchett - Where's My Cow?
A spin-off from his latest full length Discworld novel, "Where's My Cow?" is the book Sam Vimes must return home to read to his son at six o-clock every day, without fail. Without fail. "where's my cow?" "Is that my cow?" "It goes 'baa'" "It's a sheep." "That's not my cow" And thus it goes. Vimes thinks this is a little ridiculous, to read to a boy who lives in a city and will only ever see a cow cooked on a plate, and sets out to change the story a little to fit with Anhk-Morpork...

This is 11 pounds. It's 38 pages or less. That is steep. Especially as it took me only about five minutes to read. But: it was a very very fun five minutes! I recommend it highly as fun little curio: very intelligent for such a short children's book, very fun and funny also. I don't exactly know what the point of it is, though. Is it REALLY supposed to be for children? Or is it just something for true Discworld fanatics (as I am) to buy and enjoy?

There's not a lot else to say about it. It's very short. The illustrations are good and entertaining (I never realised Vimes looked so much like Pete Postlethwaite...). It's a lot of fun, nicely bound and designed, and is a nice metafictional trick, to boot. But it's expensive for what it is. But that won't stop many people buying it.

A discworld book. And so I bought it...
I bought the book the way I normally buy all things Discworld (and Pratchett). I pre-order when a publication date is announced and hold my breath for as long as is humanly possible until it is finally published and eventually delivered.

The book is marvellously presented, pulling out almost all tricks of the printing trade and smearing them liberally all over the cover. Lavish once again are the illustrations, rendered in an almost turn-of-the-century (last century, that is) detail and mood. Discworld characters are excellently depicted and detailed in sharp contrast to the simplicity of the farm animals that jostle for space on the colourful pages.

Then comes the story, almost. The narrative attempts to recocile the typical wry tones of Sam Vimes with the simplicity of a book for toddlers in not more than 300 words so I couldn't help feeling a bit cheated. There is a point made about the subjects in children's books hardly representing real life, since kids never really get to see farmyards when living in the city centre. However, despite having been brought up on the likes of C.S. Lewis and Roald Dahl, I never felt disappointed at the lack of encounters with benevolent (and omnipotent) lions or bald women with no toes.

I recall a similar sense of dismay at "Wolves in the walls" by Neil Gaiman, another illustrated story for people of all sizes, but that scored more points with me having a genuine appeal for an adult audience. Perhaps I should not have misinterpreted 'all sizes' for 'all ages'.

For the sake of having all Mr Pratchett ever wrote, buy this book, dedicate 2 minutes to reading it and half an hour to pore over the illustrations but do not expect anything novel about the Discworld.
Do not expect a novel, either.