PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
"Rory Feek is a true renaissance man, known as one of Nashville's premiere songwriters, entrepreneurs, and out-of-the-box thinkers. He is a world-class storyteller, crossing all creative mediums, from music and film to books and the Internet, and is the New York Times bestselling author of This Life I Live. As a blogger, Rory shares his heart and story with the world through thislifeilive.com and has more than two million Facebook followers. As a songwriter, Rory has written multiple number-one songs. As an artist, he is half of the Grammy-winning county music duo Joey + Rory. He and his wife, Joey Martin, toured the world and sold hundreds of thousands of records. As a filmmaker, Rory wrote and filmed the touching documentary To Joey, With Love and directed the upcoming feature-length film Josephine, an epic love story set during the declining months of the Civil War. Rory and his youngest daughter, Indiana, live an hour south of Nashville in an 1870s farmhouse near their family-owned diner, Marcy Jo's Mealhouse. Bruno Robert had in mind to draw and play with colors from an early age, which naturally led to attending National School of Fine Arts in Caen. Bruno does work for various publishing agencies and administrations and lives and works in Normandy, where he was born. ""While I am picturing a story, I please myself thinking up a funny and colored world with a hint of tenderness."""
'Feek has written two bestselling adult memoirs about life on his Tennessee farm, and he's half of country music duo Joey+Rory, which he formed with his late wife. It's no surprise, then, that in his first book for children, the setting is a barnyard. From a barn window, a cow looks out longingly at a horse cantering in a nearby field: 'If I were a horse, I could run free all day,' the cow muses. Then it tries out its horse persona, letting out 'a big . . . NEIGH!' Each spread follows a similar pattern: an animal thinks another has a better deal and, as a first step toward enjoying that creature's appealing life, lets out its signature call, from quacks to oinks. The story could have wrapped up with reminders to find gratitude for one's own gifts and avoid the perils of a grass-is-greener outlook, but Feek keeps both the mood and message light with a conclusion that celebrates silliness. Together with Robert's expressive, cartoon-bright illustrations, the playful text, filled with sound effects and refrains, will likely encourage rowdy, participatory read-alouds.' * Publishers Weekly * Engagingly written by Rory Feek and charmingly illustrated by Bruno Robert, The Cow Said Neigh!: A Farm Story is the picture book story of some peculiar farm animals who wish they were like other animals on the farm. The cow wants to run free like a horse, the sheep wants a snout like a pig, the dog wants to be inside like the cat. Soon the entire farm is in chaos! With its silly farm animal sounds, clever rhymes, and adorable art, The Cow Said Neigh! will have kids ages 4--8 laughing out loud as they celebrate the unique strengths in each of us. A delightful picture book is sure to be read time and time again and highly recommended for family, daycare center, preschool, elementary school, and community library picture book collections. * Midwest Book Review *
