BOOK Giveaway: Prudence the Part-Time Cow by Jody Jensen Shaffer

Jody Jensen Shaffer has a new book, PRUDENCE THE PART-TIME COW and she has agreed to give away a copy to one lucky winner. All you have to do to get in the running is to leave a comment. Reblog, tweet, or talk about it on Facebook with a link and you will get additional chances to win. Just let me know the other things you did to share the good news, so I can put in the right amount of tickets in my basket for you. Check back to discover the winner.

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Prudence looks like a full-time cow—she wanders through pastures, she swats flies, and she lines up for supper. But Prudence is a part-time cow—she is also a scientist, an architect, and an inventor, studying and building and dreaming and creating. To the other cows in the herd, Prudence is a bit too part-time. She’s just too different to be part of the herd. At first Prudence tries to fit in, suppressing all her scientific smarts and imaginative inventing. But in a moment of inspiration—Cow Power!—Prudence realizes how to show the others that she can be a part-time cow and a full-time member of the herd. Funny and sweet, this is a story for anyone who’s ever felt a bit different.

BOOK’S JOURNEY:

The idea for Prudence the Part-Time Cow came to me in August of 2012 when I was running errands with my son, who was 12 at the time. As we waited at an intersection for the light to turn green, we looked across the street to the Chick-Fil-A. Their cow mascot was standing on the corner waving to drivers to encourage them to stop in for a sandwich. My daughter, who wasn’t with us, liked cows, so I thought she’d appreciate a picture of the mascot. But just then, the light turned green, and we carried on with our errands.

“That’s okay,” I told my son. “We’ll get a picture when we come back.”

As these things happen, when we returned, the cow was gone. “Oh, no. It must’ve been a part-time cow,” I said. And the idea for my picture book was born.

I went home, wrote down the phrase “part-time cow” in my journal, and started tinkering with what that meant. How could a cow be part-time in a way that would be appealing to kids? I ultimately rejected the idea of a half-cow, half-human main character, which I’m sure we’re all glad about.

Finally, I decided my cow was not literally part-time but felt part-time because it was so different from the other cows on the farm.*

*Fun fact: originally the cow’s name was Percy, because I liked the alliteration of the p’s. But then one of my critique partners pointed out that Percy was a male name and a cow, by definition, is female. Oops! Thank heavens for critique partners. Enter Prudence.

From there, I needed to decide in what way Prudence was different. I love science, so I decided Prudence would be all about STEM. I had a great time brainstorming all the scientific, engineering, and architectural things she could do!

Prudence the Part-Time Cow was finally ready to send to editors in April of 2015. My agent at the time, Kathleen Rushall, and I got an offer from Laura Godwin at Henry Holt in May. I was so excited!

Over the course of the next few months, I learned that Stephanie Laberis would illustrate my book, and boy, did I luck out with that one! Steph’s illustrations are funny and endearing and clever. It was so fun to see how she imagined the scenes.

We launched Prudence at several events this past summer around the greater Kansas City area, including at the Chick-Fil-A that inspired my story. And guess who was present? The cow (who I’m sure was part-time). I had a fun summer of library and bookstore events promoting my book, which was topped off by learning that Prudence the Part-Time Cow was chosen to represent Missouri at the National Book Festival in Washington DC in September! What a ride my STEM-loving bovine has been on. I couldn’t be more grateful!

JODY BIO:

Jody Jensen Shaffer is an award-winning poet and the author of more than 30 books of fiction and nonfiction for children, including PRUDENCE THE PART-TIME COW (Godwin Books, 2017), Missouri’s pick for the National Book Festival in Washington D.C. September 2, 2017. Jody’s poetry has been published in magazines like Highlights, Ladybug, and Clubhouse Jr. Jody lives with her husband and kids in Liberty, Missouri, and is a member of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. When she’s not writing, Jody can be found watching baseball or walking her rescue dog, Sophie. Visit Jody at jodyjensenshaffer.com or on Twitter @jodywrites4kids.

Remember: Jody is one of the mentors you can try for at Writing With The Stars.

Jody grew up the youngest of three kids in a northern Missouri college town, where her dad taught anatomy and physiology and her mom taught at the local elementary school. She earned her Bachelor’s in English from William Jewell College and her Master’s in English from Truman State University. After 12 years in the business world, she left to raise her children, and that’s when she fell in love with children’s literature.

Thank you Jody to sharing your book and journey with us. I am sure the winner will be very happy.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy