"Over the hills of Hillamadoon and Willamadoon and Rattamadoon and Hattamadeen . . ." Those are the words that first got me started on this over-the-moon adventure. Before I had any story at all, I was saying them over and over to myself while I vacuumed the house. They made me feel like I was running over round hills with the wind blowing my hair.

But I needed a good story. One day I read something funny in the news.

The TRUE story of Millie and Maude, a couple of unusual bovines . . .

. . . whose real names were Zephyr and Zig-Zag. They were Belted Galloway cows from the Scottish lowlands, and they came down by truck from Quebec to live on a farm in Baiting Hollow, Long Island.

They were wild cows, but the farmer who bought them didn't know that until it was too late.

When the truck arrived, the farmer lowered the ramp. He opened the gate to his corral to let his new cows walk in. But what did Zephyr and Zig-Zag do? They ran away!

They ran through the town of Riverhead! They ran up and down Main Street and stopped to look in shop windows. They ran through the park. They ran over the golf course at Indian Island. They ran and ran for two weeks!

Everyone in town tried to catch them. The police department tried to chase them in their cars.

The farmer and his friends ran after them with tranquilizer darts. They didn't want to hurt the cows, they only wanted to make them sleepy so they'd stop running.

One dart hit Zephyr. But it wasn't strong enough. She just blinked and kept on running.

Finally the farmer and his friends lassoed Zephyr out on the golf course and tied her to a tree. It took six people to bring her in. Zig-Zag was still on the loose.

It took a few more days to catch her. I'm not sure how she was finally caught. Perhaps she went to the moon and back!

We'll never know for sure.

Illustrated by Barry Root

Reviews

"Two hip, sunglass-wearing Holsteins borrow some 'new black button-back boots' and head for a party on the moon . . .[They] thunder unstoppably toward a bunny-hopping rendezvous." -Kirkus Reviews

"Those wanting to know why the cow jumped over the moon will find some tweakingly twisted answers in this nonsensical story. A rewarding romp." -Publishers Weekly

"Fresh and funny." -Booklist

An American Bookseller Pick of the List
An IRA-CBC Children's Choice Book

Think About It

If you have read Two Cool Cows, you probably found a familiar nursery rhyme tucked in there. But did you notice the names of the Huckabuck kids? They were not picked by accident! Can you figure out why I gave them those names?

Two friends modeling silly sunglasses at a Two Cool Cows workshop