Walk Shepherdess, Walk
by Barrett Cobb
Dog Ear Publishing


"And most of all, they have each other."

The multitalented author has written and illustrated a charming children's book with heart and imagination. The original is an old nursery rhyme adopted by the American Girl Scouts in the early 1900s, but Cobb has reshaped it into something spectacularly her own. In addition to the book, her readers can visit her website to listen to Cobb on flute, piano, and voice as she gives a stirring performance of the folk song classic for which her book is named. The mixed mediums are sure to inspire young and old alike as they fold over one another, creating a seamless, joyful experience for the reader.

Illustrated by Cobb in watercolor, the images come alive in vivid detail and flights of fanciful delight. In a timeless style, each picture captures the essence of the song and story, lending movement and grace to the words. While the lyrics themselves are brief and concise, Cobb has added a two-page story, "A Lamb’s Tale," at the back of the book, should one feel inclined for a more narrative account of the story. It is Cobb's thoughtful additions which make her book so special.

However, the song combined with Cobb's illustrations are enough to convey the book’s tender consideration of friendship and the pleasures to be found in a simple summer afternoon walk. Indeed, while the journey of Ida and Ann is at once a quest to find the ram with horns of color of ebony, a gold-footed ewe, a lamb with silver fleece, and the wether who wears a crystal bell, by the end of their journey they realize that as long as they walk together, nothing else is of much importance. Cobb has created a wonderful world built on a classic tale that will bring readers back over and over again.

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