The Day the Cow Sneezed: a fun kids' book from 1957 by James Flora

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James Flora was a fantastic jazz record album illustrator. His covers from the 1940s and 1950s have had a huge influence on many contemporary artists and illustrators today.

Flora, who died in 1998, was also an accomplished children's book author and illustrator. He started writing kids' books after the fist of his five children was born. He went on to create 17 books for kids, and as far as I know, they've all been out of print for decades.

I've long wanted to see Flora's kids' books, but used copies are expensive and hard to come by (A copy of The Day The Cow Sneezed is $(removed) on Amazon). Thankfully, a new publishing company called Enchanted Lion Books is republishing Flora's books in very attractive, large format, hard cover editions. They sent me an advance copy of The Day the Cow Sneezed, a 48-page tale about a cow that kicks off a pyrotechnic catastrophe involving a steamroller that flattens zoo animals and that ends with corporal punishment against a farm boy. They don't make kids' books like this any more! My seven-year-old daughter declared it to be one of the best books she's read.

It's just $(removed) on Amazon. The Day the Cow Sneezed