Where's my cow? - Terry Pratchett

...the back of the book, where's my cow, "is a book about reading a book, which turns into a different book. But it all ends happily!"

Where's my Cow?, is the book that Samuel Vimes, a popular Discworld character, reads to his son in the Discworld novel, Thud! It is primarily a picture book such as you might read to a child about someone who has lost their cow. They go searching for the Cow and come across all of the usual farmyard ...
...and Juliet).

Where's my Cow? is published by Doubleday, (www.booksattransworld.co.uk/terrypratchett) and the ISBN is 0-385-60937-X.

The publisher's price for this book is £10.99 which I think given the length is a lot but I suppose the pictures really do make up for it. However Amazon has it for £7.25 + £2.75 p&p and it is eligible for free delivery if your order is for more than £15.00.

Terry Pratchett, ... more

I bought this book just before Christmas as a present for my fiancé who is a massive Terry Pratchett fan. As it says on the back of the book, where's my cow, "is a book about reading a book, which turns into a different book. But it all ends happily!"

Where's my Cow?, is the book that Samuel Vimes, a popular Discworld character, reads to his son in the Discworld novel, Thud! It is primarily a picture book such as you might read to a child about someone who has lost their cow. They go searching for the Cow and come across all of the usual farmyard suspects, such as sheep and pigs and follows the following pattern;

"Where is my cow?
Is that my cow?
It goes, "Baa!"
It is a sheep!
That's not my cow!"

What makes this different is the fact that as well as the story of the missing cow there is the story of Vimes reading the book to his son. At the end Vimes decides to change the animals into characters from Ankh-Morpork, a city on the Discworld. Because of this the book isn't really funny unless you have read some of the "City Watch" Discworld books.

There are about 30 pages to this book and each contains only a few lines of text and full colour illustrations. The illustrations are so beautiful and lifelike. Each page is full of details and the more you look at them the more you see. There are loads of lovely little bits and is fun to look for them in each picture. The artist is someone called Melvyn Grant who is easily as good as Kidby or Kirby, (the 2 premier Discworld artists). To see more of Grant's work go to www.melgrant.com. Both my fiancé and my best friend think the illustration of Sam Vimes looks like Pete Postlethwaite, (an actor who starred in Brassed off and Romeo and Juliet).

Where's my Cow? is published by Doubleday, (www.booksattransworld.co.uk/terrypratchett) and the ISBN is 0-385-60937-X.

The publisher's price for this book is £10.99 which I think given the length is a lot but I suppose the pictures really do make up for it. However Amazon has it for £7.25 + £2.75 p&p and it is eligible for free delivery if your order is for more than £15.00.

Terry Pratchett, (the most shoplifted author in the UK), is a superb wordsmith, in fact he has been bestowed with three honorary "Doctorates of the Letters" from the universities of Warwick, Portsmouth and Bristol! His talent for story telling and his fantastic imagination are better displayed in other books as this is a book that is more about the pictures than the words. He is almost as well known for his penchant for wearing big black hats as he is for his writing.

Amongst other books Terry Pratchett has written 35+ Discworld novels, creating some amazing characters and the biggest and most varied comic fantasy universe out there. The Discworld is a planet that parodies our own in Pratchett's unique and hilarious manner. The Discworld itself is a giant flat disc that rests on the back of three huge elephants that in turn are stood on, "Great A'Tuin", a giant turtle swimming through space.

Various adaptations of Discworld books are available in many mediums such as animations, graphic novels, audio books, drama series, video games and plays.

Check out Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.co.uk for more information on Terry Pratchett and the Discworld.

All in all I would say that this is a GREAT book and an essential addition to any Discworld library. It is guaranteed to bring a smile to the face of any Pratchett fan and delight small children. The only down sides are that is so short and a little overpriced.

I am sorry that this such a short review but the book is very short and the plot very simple.
 

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