Unfortunately no longer in print The Cow Who Fell in the Canal was the book that I borrowed over and over from the library, driving my mum crazy. “Don’t you want something different this time?” she’d say.
But no, I loved this book most of all!

Published in 1957 it is the story of Hendrika, an unhappy and bored black and white cow who lives on a farm in Holland. She is told stories of the city from the cart horse Pieter and she longs to see the wonderful things he talks about. Until one day while fat Hendrika is chewing her way through the pasture she gets the adventure of her life, falling into the canal and travelling via raft down the waterway to the city. Once in the city Hendrika takes off, running down the cobbled streets discovering and exploring all the things she’d only heard about in Pieter’s stories.

The Cow Who Fell In The Canal is a lovely story about adventure and curiosity, things that every child can relate to.

Peter Spier’s illustrations are gorgeous in this book, the double page spreads are alternated between black and white sketches and then glorious colour. His vibrant use of blues and yellows create spectacular scenes that make you feel sunny and warm just looking at them. The detail he uses is exquisite, there is so much to look at in each picture and his landscapes have amazing depth, it’s like the lush green fields go on and on.

Recently I bought a copy of The Cow Who Fell In The Canal off Ebay, battling three other bidders for an old ‘Bell Primary School Reading Scheme’ paperback. When it arrived I realised that I still loved it very much.

In 1995 Scholastic Publishing made a short film of the book and I found it here, it’s beautiful and worth taking 8 minutes out of the day for.