books

Mooove Over!

Get ready for a hilarious, wild ride! When an obnoxious cow elbows her way onto a crowded trolley, you can count on it being anything but quiet.

Honors

Alabama’s Emphasis on Reading children’s choice award

Idea

Writing a picture book is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. You start with lots of pieces, then ask yourself which one goes where? How do I make this jumble of pieces into a whole story? Where did I put that box top?

Piece 1 for Mooove Over! was a joke my mother used to play on my children. She’d pile in the backseat of the car with them and ask if they had enough room. When they’d politely answer yes, she’d say with a twinkle in her eye, “Well, then move over!” and give them a playful push. It always brought giggles from the backseat. The first time I heard it I knew it needed to be in a book. Thanks, Mom!

Next I talked with kids and teachers during school visits and scoured my local library for Piece 2: a math topic that hadn’t already been done. Counting by two’s was unclaimed, just waiting for me. So I had a crazy joke and a math focus. To tie them together, I needed to come up with Pieces 3 and 4: characters and a dramatic situation that forced somebody to count quickly! Ta-da!

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Teacher’s Guide

Download and print lesson ideas for Mooove Over! (PDF file)

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