The Cow Tripped Over the Moon
Hey diddle diddle
You all know the riddle,
A cow jumps over the moon.
It happened all right,
On a crisp, cloudless night
On the second last Friday in June.
Released by Scholastic in June, 2015, Cow is my most successful hardback so far in Australia. The illustrations are by the wonderful, Milan-based Laura Wood.
It’s a story about perseverance. It’s a story about training. It’s a story about cows smacking into meteorites and hot air balloons, and sand dunes.
In 2016, The Cow Tripped Over the Moon was a CBCA Honour Book (runners up Book of the Year) and in 2017 it was ALIA’s National Simultaneous Storytime Book. There were nearly $700,000 participants across Australia.
Cow has three ‘sister’ titles that are also back stories to nursery rhymes. They are Hickory Dickory Dash, Baa Baa Blue Sheep and Humpty Dumpty Sat on the Slide.
Cow’s special significance
Here is a blog I wrote not long after the book was launched, explaining the special significance of Cow, how I came to write it and how I was inspired by my son Jack.
The Cow Tripped Over the Moon is a story about perseverance. I love seeing people practice a skill, especially a difficult skill, and do it so many times that eventually it becomes easy. I see it in my older two kids, Polly, 8, and Harry, 5, with things like cartwheels, kicking a footy or learning to read. But I dedicated The Cow Jumped Over the Moon to my now four year old, Jack.
Jack has cerebral palsy, a condition that causes muscle spasticity in all four of his limbs. He also has cortical vision impairment, which means he only sees a couple of metres.
Everything that Jack tries to do requires perseverance. He cannot walk by himself, or crawl, or sit for very long. Every day he practises these things, and gets tiny improvements to keep us going. When Jack’s in his walking frame, we chant each movement to help him:‘shift weight, step, stretch and push’. At the moment we are aiming to do one hundred steps per day – three sessions, 20-40 steps at a time.
Every day, Jack enthusiastically asks ‘who’s coming today?’ and we answer ‘Belinda’, or ‘Ingrid’, or ‘Cathy’, or ‘Ali’ or ‘Ro’, for his life is charted by a parade of therapists and volunteers, all working towards the same distant moons – crawling, walking, comfortable unassisted sitting, fine motor control.
If he wants to pick up a piece of pasta at dinner, Jack might make ten attempts with his better left hand. Then, finally, he gets his pasta. We are having small successes with spoons, particularly with motion towards mouth. Obtaining a visual sight on the food, and what we call ‘digging’ is still a fair way off.
Jack adores books. His favourite at the moment is The Book With No Pictures and he always interrupts the first page with the question ‘who wrote this?’ He’s a long term Mo Willems devotee, and we often read him a book while demanding that he hold a sitting position, or a four point position. He still manages to enjoy the book.
CBCA Honour Book 2016
Cow was awarded runner up CBCA Book of the Year in the Early Childhood category in 2016. I went up to Sydney to receive my certificate, which was presented by Governor General Sir Peter Cosgrove.
You get a lovely CBCA sticker for being an Honour Book!
686,000 kids reading Cow together!
I was thrilled in 2017 when Laura and my Cow was selected for ALIA’s National Simultaneous Storytime. One title is chosen each year, and kids across Australia and New Zealand gather to read it. I received amazing pictures and videos from all over Australia of kids enjoying the book, including dress ups, craft, and drama productions! There were some celebrity readings too, one by Eddie Perfect for Story Box Library and Lee Lin Chin too. I read at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. Below are some photos and highlights of the day.
My wife, Tamsin, and four kids Polly, Alice, Jack and Harry
Eddie Perfect reading Cow for Story Box Library.
Author Alex Miles reading at Auburn Primary School
Springfield Library, University of Southern Queensland
Parkes Shire Council, NSW
Cow at the Sydney Opera House
One of Cow’s most exciting leaps was to make it to the Sydney Opera House. The book was adapted into a stage show for children called ‘Yo Diddle Diddle’ by the Patch Theatre Company. They are based in Adelaide, and the show premiered there. In 2019 it toured nationally and ended up at the Sydney Opera House during school holidays.
I’d like to say this image was not digitally altered in any way. I really wish I could say that!
My family with the Patch team.
Yo Diddle Diddle opened in Adelaide in 2017.
Get your copy of Cow in either hardcover or paperback