Minnie and Moo are the best of friends. Moo has her books. Minnie has her espresso machine. Farm life is good. Almost perfect. Until Moo overhears the not-so-good news that the farmer needs money so desperately that he must sell the farm.No! He mustn't! Not if Minnie and Moo can help it. Not if the other animals are willing to follow our heroines on a paid tour of Moo's version of the Seven Wonders of the World. Not if that thing in the woods minds its own business.Not if...

Denys Cazet first introduced his lovable cows in a series of books for beginning readers. Here is more bovine silliness for children reading on their own. Besides the Minnie and Moo tales the author/artist is well-known for A Fish in His Pocket and "I'm Not Sleepy," both School Library Journal Best Books of the Year; and Never Spit on Your Shoes, picture-book winner of the California Young Reader Medal.

Mr. Cazet, for years a school librarian, lives with his wife and sons in Pope Valley, California.

contents

The Night Before

1 Not-So-Good News

2 The Plan

3 The Presidential Bunion

4 Motherhood and a Hubcap

5 The Well of Troubles

6 The Mystery Spot

7 The Brood of Shorts

8 The Seventh Wonder

9 The Forest Octopus

10 It's a Wonder

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Chapter 2: The Plan

Minnie looked at her bunion. "I don't get it," she said. "How is George Washington's face on a bunion going to save the farm?"

"Minnie, don't you see?" said Moo. "Everyone loves an oddity. Everyone loves a mystery. They may say they don't, but sooner or later curiosity gets the better of them. There isn't an animal on this farm who wouldn't pay to see a bunion with the face of the father of our country on it."

Moo pointed to Minnie's bump."That,"she said, "is a presidential bunion!"

"Really?" said Minnie.

"Really," said Moo, pacing back and forth again. "But George will be free of charge. We need to convince everyone that what we say is true. That way, they'll believe the other things as well."

"Other things?" said Minnie.

"Of course," said Moo. "The other mysteries on the farm. Life's puzzles, the unexplained, the wonders of the world. That's it!See the Seven Wonders of the World!"

Minnie stood up and looked across the farm. "Moo, I don't see any wonders," she said. "I see a farmhouse, a barn, and some chickens."

"But I do," said Moo. "I see the Presidential Bunion. I see the Bermuda Triangle. I see the Mystery Spot, UFOs, FLUs!"

"FLUs?" said Minnie. "What's a FLU?"

"You know," said Moo, pointing toward the sky. "FLU. F-L-U. Flying Long Underwear."

Minnie looked up into the sky. She looked at Moo and sighed. "That's only five wonders," she said.

Moo closed her eyes and pointed into the distance. "I see the Rock That Never Moves," she said.

"That's six!" said Minnie.

"And Big Hoof!" Moo yelled.

"Big Hoof?" said Minnie. "Who's Big Hoof?"

"You've never heard of Big Hoof?"

Minnie shook her head.

"They say Big Hoof is the missing link between dinosaurs and cows. Some animals claim to have seen her in Wilkerson's Woods. Her footprints are huge."

Minnie looked toward the dark woods at the edge of the farm. "Really?" she said.

"Well, I've never seen her," said Moo. "But listen, Minnie. No one will believe your bunion has the face of George Washington on it. But once they see it, they will believe it. After that they'll believe anything!"

Minnie shook her head. "You make me nervous," she said. "Every time you get an idea, it starts up one way and ends up another."

"Minnie," said Moo softly, "I'm just trying to save the farm."

"I know," said Minnie. "But it sounds like...like...cheating."

"No, no," said Moo. "It's being creative. It's more like taking something old and making something new out of it. Like making up your own recipe."

Minnie let out a tired breath of air. She looked at Moo. "Making up your own recipe?" she said.

"Yes," said Moo. "All you have to do is take a little something that's sort of true and mix it with something that's sort of not true. Then you toss it around a little and sauce it up a bit. Soon you have something new, different, more interesting, and more tasty."

"Sounds like a salad," said Minnie.

"No," said Moo thoughtfully. "More like a bowl of mock turtle soup. There really isn't any turtle in mock turtle soup, but it's still a bowl of soup."

"More like a bowl of fibs," said Minnie. "I don't like it!"

Minnie looked out over the farm. She saw her friends Bea and Madge Holstein standing near the chicken coop talking to some mutual friends. She saw the farmer going into the barn next to his tractor and Mrs. Farmer carrying out the wash. Minnie remembered all the wonderful years everyone at the farm had spent together.

Moo sighed.

"Minnie," she said, "what will happen to all the animals on the farm if we don't do something?"

"We?" Minnie said. "How does it always end up with 'we'? Your ideas are like an invisible net. You cast it out as 'I' and it comes back loaded with 'we.'"

Moo smiled at Minnie.

"Okay, okay!" Minnie said. "I hope I'm not going to regret this. What do you want me to do first?"

"Make posters!" said Moo, sitting down. She put a box of felt pens and some paper on the table.

Then she wrote in large letters:

SAVE OUR FARM!

and for a $mall donation...

See The Seven Wonders of The World!

The PRESIDENTIAL Bunion

The rock that NEVER moves!

The MILLION-year old landing site of a U.F.O.

(and the hubcap it left behind)

THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE 

(Walk through Boohoo Land and hear the WELL of TROUBLES speak!)

• The MYSTERY SPOT •

Watch your legs grow longer on one side and shrink on the other!

TheF.L.U. Mystery

Why does FLYING LONG UNDERWEAR flock together on Thursdays?

 BIG HOOF

Is she watching?

 Thursday!! TOMORROW 9:00 am!! 

UNDER THE OLD OAK TREE

SEE THE WORLD'S MOST ASTOUNDING MYSTERY!

 FREE! at NO COST to YOU! (donations welcome)

"There!" said Moo. "That's what the posters should look like. You can help by making more. When you're done, just tack them up around the farm."

Minnie read the poster. "Moo," she said, "I know where the Presidential Bunion is, but where are all these other 'wonders'?"

Moo stood up. "Out there," she said, sweeping her arm in the air. "Out there." Then she turned and started to walk away.

"Moo, where are you going?" asked Minnie.

Moo winked. "I'm going to cook up some new recipes," she said. "You know, take a little of the truth and mix it in with a little of the not so true."

"Mock turtle soup," said Minnie.

"Right," said Moo.

Minnie pointed toward Wilkerson's Woods. "Moo, don't forget there are some things that should be left alone."

"Minnie, tomorrow the Seven Wonders tour will start here with the Presidential Bunion. Then, one by one, we'll find the other mysteries along the road. Some will be in the meadow and in the farmer's garden, and some will be at the edge of Wilkerson's Woods.

A cool breeze blew across the hill, and Minnie shivered. "That's what I mean," she said. "The woods are dark. Things live in there. Maybe things you think you made up, but didn't. Maybe there really is a -- a..."

Moo looked out toward Wilkerson's Woods. "You mean -- "

"Big Hoof!" Minnie whispered.

Excerpted from Minnie and Moo and the Seven Wonders of the World by Denys Cazet
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.