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‘Click Clack Moo’ a Gentle Farmyard Revolt
It’s cold in the barn at night, so Farmer Brown’s cows tack a note on the door asking — ever so politely — for electric blankets.
“No way,” says Farmer Brown. He’s management after all. What he says goes.
The next morning, there’s another note on the barn door: “Sorry. We’re closed. No milk today.”
The cows are on strike. The hens are next. Then the ducks negotiate themselves a diving board for the pond.
With sweet prose and lush, playful drawings, “Click Clack Moo, Cows That Type,” may be the gentlest labor relations manual ever to find its way to a bookstore.
A funny thing is, author Doreen Cronin didn’t realize that’s what she was writing when she penned the children’s story five years ago. But since its release in January, it’s been a big hit among union members and was featured on National Public Radio.
“My fiancé said, ‘What are you, the union poster child?’” Cronin, 34, said with a hearty laugh. “I thought I’d written a book about education and the power of writing. Then I realized, ‘Oh my God, it is about unions.”
And she’s delighted about it. Her father, John Cronin, was a New York transit police officer for 30 years and a member of the police union. His values and “incredible sense of humor” inspired her, she said.
“I wrote it about three weeks after he died in 1995,” Cronin said. “It was a very difficult time, so to have something so ridiculous and silly come of that was beyond me. He would have loved it.”
The colorful illustrations — which Cronin calls “knockout gorgeous and hysterical” — were done by Betsy Lewin, a noted children’s book artist.
Cronin is a lawyer who worked at a labor-side law firm while she was in school. She lives in New York City with her fiancé, Andrew Gottesman.
For years, she tried to get “Click Clack Moo” published, finally succeeding with Simon & Schuster. The $15 book, available from Internet book sites at a discount, is already in its fourth printing. Now she’s mulling over a sequel.
“I’m thrilled that people look at the story the way they do, that it’s about collective bargaining,” she said. “The animals aren’t formally unionized, but they learn the power of negotiating as a group and they learn about compromise.”
“No way,” says Farmer Brown. He’s management after all. What he says goes.
The next morning, there’s another note on the barn door: “Sorry. We’re closed. No milk today.”
The cows are on strike. The hens are next. Then the ducks negotiate themselves a diving board for the pond.
With sweet prose and lush, playful drawings, “Click Clack Moo, Cows That Type,” may be the gentlest labor relations manual ever to find its way to a bookstore.
A funny thing is, author Doreen Cronin didn’t realize that’s what she was writing when she penned the children’s story five years ago. But since its release in January, it’s been a big hit among union members and was featured on National Public Radio.
“My fiancé said, ‘What are you, the union poster child?’” Cronin, 34, said with a hearty laugh. “I thought I’d written a book about education and the power of writing. Then I realized, ‘Oh my God, it is about unions.”
And she’s delighted about it. Her father, John Cronin, was a New York transit police officer for 30 years and a member of the police union. His values and “incredible sense of humor” inspired her, she said.
“I wrote it about three weeks after he died in 1995,” Cronin said. “It was a very difficult time, so to have something so ridiculous and silly come of that was beyond me. He would have loved it.”
The colorful illustrations — which Cronin calls “knockout gorgeous and hysterical” — were done by Betsy Lewin, a noted children’s book artist.
Cronin is a lawyer who worked at a labor-side law firm while she was in school. She lives in New York City with her fiancé, Andrew Gottesman.
For years, she tried to get “Click Clack Moo” published, finally succeeding with Simon & Schuster. The $15 book, available from Internet book sites at a discount, is already in its fourth printing. Now she’s mulling over a sequel.
“I’m thrilled that people look at the story the way they do, that it’s about collective bargaining,” she said. “The animals aren’t formally unionized, but they learn the power of negotiating as a group and they learn about compromise.”