Sonderbooks Book Review of

Millie Waits for the Mail

by Alexander Steffensmeier

Millie Waits for the Mail

by Alexander Steffensmeier

Review posted October 13, 2008.
Walker & Company, New York, 2007.
First published in Germany in 2006.
Starred review.
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2008: #2 Picture Books

This book was originally written in German, under the title, Liselotte Lauert. I want a copy! This udderly (sorry) silly book was my absolute favorite of the Picture Books chosen for the Summer Reading Program.

Millie the cow waits every morning for her favorite time of day.

Millie spends each morning looking for a new hiding place. The poor mail carrier has nightmares every night. The poor farmer has all her packages arrive broken.

Millie must be stopped.

The wonderful silliness of this book (How on earth did Alexander Steffensmeier think of writing a book about a cow scaring the mail carrier?) is especially evident in the illustrations. The look in Millie's eye as she scours the farmyard for hiding places is priceless. The page where Millie first jumps out and scares the mail carrier got a big reaction from the kids every time I showed it to them. A big reaction from the adults in the room, too.

What can I say? This book makes me laugh every time I look at it. It doesn't promote good, noble purposes. But it is absolutely, delightfully, wonderfully Silly.