The flaps are large and sturdy, and enough of the animals’ characteristic features are visible under and around the costumes that little ones will be able to make successful guesses even on the first reading.

Not to be left out, Little Blue has a costume, too. ‘It’s me! It’s me!’ ” The sheep is disguised as a clown, the cow’s a queen, the pig’s a witch, the hen and her chick are pirates, and the horse is a dragon. “Who’s that in a tutu / striking a pose / up on the tiniest / tips of her toes? / Under the mask / who do you see?” Lifting the flap unmasks a friend: “ ‘Quack!’ says the duck. ‘It’s Halloween!’ / You come, too.” As they drive, they are surprised (and joined) by many of their friends in costume. Little Blue Truck and his buddy Toad are off to a party, and they invite readers (and a black cat) along for the ride: “ ‘Beep! Beep! Beep!’ / says Little Blue. Good barnyard fun, with nods to Mo Willems’ aspirational Pigeon and Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin’s enterprising Duck.Ī lift-the-flap book gives the littlest trick-or-treaters some practice identifying partygoers under their costumes. Ordered back to her pasture, where she encounters the farmer, the cow fingers an innocent bystander with a one-word accusation: “Baaaaa!” Wohnoutka’s cheery, cartoonish gouache pictures deliver the action accessibly enough for toddlers to enjoy, while new readers will ace the simple text and get the broad jokes. The titular word is extensively employed in the text one extremely long “Mooooooo” undulates over the hills in the wake of the car as the cow sets out, and her excuse is delivered to the policeman in a string of 28 of ’em. A page turn reveals worse news: The crushed car is a police vehicle, and the perturbed cop’s standing nearby.

Out of control, car and cow careen off a cliff and crunch another car. Leaping at the opportunity, she motors off on a joy ride, but the joy lasts a mere four pages. Said cow, brown and white and wearing a bell, notices that the farmer’s put a “Car for Sale” sign on his vehicle. A venturesome cow sneaks off in her farmer’s red car, with decidedly bumpy results.

Moo! by David LaRochelle