Book Review | The Cow in Patrick O'Shanahan's Kitchen
Diana Prichard, illustrated by Heather Delvin Knopf
The Cow in Patrick O'Shanahan's Kitchen
Little Pickle Press, San Francisco, CA 2013
What if making your favorite French toast required you to have a dairy cow roaming through your kitchen, a squawking egg-laying chicken roosting in your refrigerator and a full grown maple tree inside your house? This is the situation little Patrick discovers in The Cow in Patrick O'Shanahan's Kitchen when he wakes one morning to find his dad making him breakfast. This easy-to-read picture book's great kid appeal is its silly story and zany illustrations, but its real strength is informing children where food actually comes from — eggs aren't grown in cartons at the grocery store and milk doesn't start in a bottle. Author Diana Prichard is also a hog farmer. She understands the need for practical food awareness in our national discourse on food: "It's clear we need a more balanced dialogue, and, as our future decision makers, children need to understand the importance of supporting agriculture as much as adults."
Gail Lord is a freelance writer living in Massachusetts. Please send book review copies to 51 North Street, Grafton, MA 01519 or email socbookreviewer@gmail.com.
