Marjorie, the bovine paragon of steadfast motherhood from 2008's The Cow That Laid an Egg, returns with the other denizens of her farmyard. This time, she's awakened by the farmer's wife hanging a sign announcing a beautiful baby contestfor cows only. Marjorie knows her baby Daisy has always been a special cowever since Daisy hatched from her egg. The farm is a-flutter as the cows prepare their calves. The farmer's wife appears to judge, but Daisy gulps down a worm dangling from the judge's hat. "A ch-ch-chicken!" sputters the farmer's wife before she faints. In the face of her cohorts' laughter, Marjorie says, "Daisy might not be like your babies...but she's mine, and I love her!"earning her a best-mom ribbon from Derek the bull. Cutbill's sweet story of motherly devotion and interspecies adoption is pepped-up to cartoon perfection by Ayto's spiky, mixed-media collage illustrations. Plenty of goofy details will have storytimers saying, "Once Moo-re please!" (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

PreS-Gr 1-Marjorie, the bovine heroine of The Cow That Laid an Egg (HarperCollins, 2008), is back, and she's determined to enter her daughter, the mooing chick, in the barnyard beautiful baby contest. The only trouble is that the contest is strictly for cows. Daisy causes a ruckus when she slurps a worm off the judge's hat, earning her mother lots of derisive laughter, but Marjorie stops everyone cold with a simple declaration: "Daisy might not be like your babies-but she's mine, and I love her!" She wins the award for best mom and a smooch from Derek the bull. Ayto's busy cartoon illustrations match the off-kilter humor of the story. Though the climax lacks the punch of the first book, the heartfelt message and silly, big-eyed characters still provide plenty of appeal.-Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

On the heels of The Cow That Laid an Egg comes this offering, in which cow Marjorie enters her daughter Daisy--a chicken in the eyes of everyone but her--in the farm's cows-only "Beautiful Baby Contest." The words and illustrations of bulbous-eyed characters are for laughs, but the message of parental love, regardless of shared genetics, is unexpectedly moving. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.