Going Bovine by Libba Bray

When I first heard about Going Bovine, I was immediately intrigued, in no small part due to the cover design: a cow standing upright, holding a garden gnome.  It started popping up on recommended and best-of lists for young adults.  Not long after, it won the prestigious Michael L. Printz Award for literary excellence in young adult literature.  The cherry on top is the video on Amazon of author Libba Bray talking about the book while dressed in a cow suit.  Pretty compelling!

The story starts out with a traumatic yet exhilarating catastrophe at Disneyworld’s It’s-A-Small-World ride, which sets the tone and the pace for Cameron’s story.  Now a sharp albeit unmotivated 16-year-old, Cameron is diagnosed with mad cow disease.  Sounds like a downer, but even in the midst of the serious subject matter, Bray is fiercely witty and draws some interesting though unsubtle parallels to Don Quixote.  Narrator Erik Davies does an excellent job with the sardonic tone often used to portray the intelligent disenchanted teen.  Though written for a young audience, the story and the writing make Going Bovine captivating for an adult audience as well.

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Posted by Caroline Duke, Playaway Collection Development Manager