The New Baby Calf

by Edith Newlin Chase, Barbara Reid (Illustrator)

A baby calf is born, and under his mother's guidance grows happy and fat.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Art, Science

32 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1991

Reviews

[Steven R. McEvoy]

Barbara Reid is a world renowned Plasticine artist. In this book she takes a story about the love between a mother cow and her new calf and creates a fun board book for children of all ages. With 15 full pages of illustrations and embellishments on the pages facing the text, this will be a fun book for the young children in your life.

[Tasha Leflar]

A favorite from my childhood and it never grows old. It's a perfect night time read for little ones. The illustrations are I think what makes this story so memorable with all the plasticine work....

[Gala]

I liked the illustrations in play dough. The baby calf had to get strong to walk and his first try was hard but the more he drank his mothers milk the stronger he got. I like the way the story is told with repeating lines and repeating words that rhyme.

[Scout Collins]

3.5 stars

Don't get me wrong, I love Barbara Reid's plasticine style. However, the story didn't give much room for it to be as great as some of her other stories. The plot itself was okay, good even, but not great. So the combo of those two things being kind of mediocre made me doc a star and a half.

[Mary]

The amazing plasticine art by Barbara Reid is reason enough to read this little book. Repeated words and rhyming words make the text about the love between and mother cow and her calf accessible to very young children.
The ending is a disappointment--after all his mother's care and nourishment "the big baby calf grew fat!" That's it?
Use the book as a classroom writing prompt and compose a better final sentence.
Also published in Spanish.

[KaitandMaddie]

Kait has already read this at school and said it was her favourite.

[Jacelyn Neuleib]

"The New Baby Calf" is another cute book which takes place on the farm. The art style almost looks like the pictures were made by clay. This book is about a new baby calf being born on a farm and about how its mother takes care of it and how the calf learns to walk and to visit all of the other animals and people living on the farm. After each new experience, their is a page which states "And the new baby calf liked that!"

[Jane]

I've used The New Baby Calf in my preschool classrooms since the earlly 1900s and the children always liked the story. The illustrations are colorful and show a cute baby calf by Barbara Reid, illustrator. Edith Newlin Chase has written a simple story that tells about the birth of a calf and the things he likes. My three-year-olds have loved it and the four-year-old group included the story in their play.

[Jeanine]

Well I was mostly enjoying it. The illustrations are why I'm there of course, but without them this book would be pretty weak. Main issue was the way it ended. "And the big baby calf grew fat!" This didn't feel like as much of an ending as I think she was going for. If this had to be the last page, then maybe "strong" or just "up" would have been a better ending than fat!

[Chericem]

Grammar: Present tense, preterit tense

Vocabulary: Farm life

Beautiful illustrations made from layers of clay. Text appears in large font, but is rather lengthy. Tells the story of a newborn calf.

[Elizabeth]

The illustrations in the book are very interesting and seem to be made of clay. The book is about a new baby calf and teaches you about cows and what the beginning of their life is like and how they grow and what their mothers do to take care of them. Very simple and cute.

[Ashley]

One of my favourites as a child.
The clay work in this book is absolutely amazing! Very unique! It was one of the things that really drew me to the book as a child, and I could spend hours looking at the lines and details in the clay.

[Alexa]

this was the very first book i received as a new born baby. It was given to me by the nurses and i still have it 18 years later

[Pam Klassen-dueck]

One of my favourite childhood books and now my daughter adores it, too. Beautiful illustrations and a rhythmic text that sticks in your head like a song.

[Janine]

Wonderful illustrations done in plasticine

[Jeani]

fantastic art; language is o.k.

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian]

I love the plasticine illustrations! So fun. The rhyming, repetitious poem / story is lovely too. Very soothing and simple.

[Chelsea]

One of my favorite books as a child. The illustrations are mesmerizing. I'm enjoying reading it to my baby now.

[Lynn Davidson]

This is about a new baby calf and how his mother cares for him. In pleasant rhyme the story is told, and with gorgeous illustrations made with Plasticine. Board book format.

[Charlotte]

I love the rhythm of this simple story and the plasticine pictures.