SOLVED. Adventurous cow befriends hobos [s]

[Megan]

My mom and I have been trying to remember this book for years now, but without any success. I'm a library student and have even plumbed all the databases I have access to trying to figure it out! If anyone can help, I'd sure appreciate it.

It is a children's book, probably set during the Depression and written about that time or in the 40s or 50s. It's not a picture book, more like an early reader/young chapter book, and the pictures are mainly black and white pen sketches, I think.

The story is about a young heifer who is adventurous and always straying away from the herd; she produces very little milk because she doesn't sit and chew her cud the way the older cows do. The farmer is always threatening to get rid of her. One day, she encounters some hobos living in the woods, and they begin to milk her, so the farmer believes she isn't producing any milk at all and gets very annoyed.

I think it's broken up into anecdotes; there's one where she gets a red bicycle tangled in her horns, for example, and another where the hobos try to collect honey. I can remember almost everything about this book except for the title or the author! Yet I can't find it anywhere; it seems to be very rare.

Any help anyone can offer is greatly appreciated!!

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

I hope someone helps you find this.

[Kate]

I went to google books for the first time and entered some of your key words. I found a book called The Little Cow and the Turtle by Meindert De Jong, from 1955.

It had this description:
A little cow befriends three hoboes who feed her honey, two little boys who feed her apples, and a turtle on a valiant journey to the lake.

[Kate]

Oh, yes, and pictures by Maurice Sendak.
The Little Cow and the Turtle

[Megan]

Wow! I don't remember there being a turtle at all, but I think this really might be it. I'll have to consult with my mom and see if she thinks that's it too. Thanks!!

[Lisa]

Megan-Marie wrote: "Wow! I don't remember there being a turtle at all, but I think this really might be it. I'll have to consult with my mom and see if she thinks that's it too. Thanks!!"

Megan-Marie, Oh, I hope it's the book. If it is please return and let us know so this thread can be moved to solved and the book shelved. Thanks.

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

I hope it's the book too. I have a copy waiting for me on the hold shelf at the library. :)

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

I just started reading this ... there is a scene where the hobos milk the cow, and then one climbs a tree to get some honey, and they give her honey in exchange for the milk.

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

Hey, Megan-Marie ... did this turn out to be the book you were looking for?

[Cheryl]

I've just sent a PM to Megan-Marie, nicely asking her to come back and let us know about this.

[Lisa]

Cheryl in CC NV wrote: "I've just sent a PM to Megan-Marie, nicely asking her to come back and let us know about this."

Thanks, Cheryl.

[Cheryl]

This can be solved, as I got the following PM:

Megan-Marie said to you:
Oh, yes! This turned out to have been the exact book, and we immediately were able to buy it off Amazon. Great service! I was beginning to think we'd never find it :)