Art of Negotiation by the Cows That Type Essay

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type book tells the story of Farmer Brown and animals on his farm that types messages using a typewriter and makes various demands. Farmer Brown's cows happen to find an old typewriter in the barn and start to make demands by writing notes to him. The cows are joined by hens and finally, ducks follow suit.

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The cows write a note to demand electric blankets to keep them warm because the barn is cold at night (Cronin, 7). Farmer Brown refuses to provide the electric blankets and hence the cows leave another note on the barn door stating "Sorry, We're closed. No milk today" (Cronin, 8). This note is supposed to inform the farmer that they will withhold milk until he meets their demands. Soon after cows go on strike, they type another note requesting electric blankets for the hens too (Cronin, 14). The animals get impatient with the farmer and leave another note on the door declaring hens to join cows in the strike by withholding eggs.

Lack of milk and eggs on the farm makes the farmer furious especially when he realizes that he cannot run the farm without these supplies (Cronin, 17). He decides to type a note insisting that the blankets they are requesting are not necessary and he demands milk and eggs from them. He sends a duck as a neutral party to deliver it to the cows and hens. The animals hold a meeting and agree to promise Farmer Brown that they would give up their typewriter if he agrees to provide them with electric blankets (Cronin, 25). Considering this as a fair deal, the farmer delivers the electric blankets outside the barn as agreed and expects the duck, which acts as the neutral party in this exchange, to deliver the typewriter (Cronin, 26) To his surprise, the duck does not deliver the typewriter and instead types a note to the farmer claiming that their pond is boring and they would like him to provide them with a diving board (Cronin 28).

Illustrations in this book are done using watercolor and a sense of lines are used to reflect excitement to the reader (Kathleen et al., 351). The book illustrates dramatic lines when Farmer Brown is irritated.

In contrast, lines are used in a different way to imply a sense of humor in faces of the animals by giving them expressions like comical looks when waiting for a response from Farmer Brown and calming looks after they have gotten the electric blankets.

Colour is used to signify various parts of the story. Anger in farmer's face is implied by red occupying most part of the page to demonstrate how angry and furious the farmer was when the cows were writing letters to him.

Another aspect is demonstrated by bright colors to show how the cows were happy as they gathered to type letters

At the instance when the farmer is typing on his typewriter to respond to the letters from his animals, colors in his house are presented in dull yellows to imply his bland and dull nature.

Calmness and sense of peace are over the animals after they have received the electronic blankets are expressed by darker blue and grey colors which are a shift from bright yellows used in some of the other sections.

Another approach to illustration is presented through layouts of the page. In cases where the cows are angry with the farmer, they are presented to appear bigger than the farmer so as to place more emphasis on the cows. For the purpose of attracting the attention of the reader to the main subject, layouts are made to focus on a given character. For example, during the emergency meeting held by the animals, the page layout mainly focuses on presenting the animals with minimal descriptive text the book ends with a portrayal of humor and excitement demonstrated by bold illustrations of the ducks having fun off the diving board with no text around the picture.

In narration, the writer makes use of words like emergency, furious, neutral, calmness to vary the different perceptions of aspects and events occurring in the story. Additionally, these words are used for phonology purposes and to develop the vocabulary of the reader. (Kathy, 169) indicate that phonological awareness is necessary for readers at an early stage to help them develop skilled decoding skills useful in advanced reading practice.

There are aspects of characters that are illustrated by are not in any way described in words. An example is the old age of Farmer Brown. The farmer is shown in the pictures to be an old man but this characteristic is nowhere described in the narrated text. In the same way, some reactions of the farmer to demands made by the animals, like being furious, are more vivid in narrated text than in the illustrations presented in diagrams.

The inclusion of different animals and a human being in the story, of which each party strives to gain its interests appropriately demonstrates multicultural and social values where different groups in a society will have priority on different resources and interest areas. As demonstrated in the story, these interests are met through interactive negotiations which rely on the utmost good faith of each party meeting the negotiated requirements.

The book "Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type" is illustrative and humorous though the narrated story is unlikely to happen. This book helps a child reader to associate narrated text with diagrammatic illustrations and hence enrich their vocabulary. The book provides opportunities to relate unfamiliar words with expressions in the presented diagrams.

Works Cited

Armstrong, Kathleen; Cai, Mingshui; Giorgis, Cyndi; Kathryn Mitchell Pierce et al. Click, Clack, Moo-Cows That Type. Language Arts; Mar 2002; 79, 4; ProQuest Central Essentials. pg. 351

Barclay, Kathy. Click, Clack, Moo: Designing Effective Reading Instructions for Children in Preschool and Early Primary Grades. Childhood Education; Spring 2009; 85,3; ProQuest central Essentials. pg. 167

Cronin, Doreen, and Lewin, Betsy. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. 2000. ISBN 0-689-83213-3-15.00