Petal the Angry Cow

Petal the Angry Cow focuses on Petal, a cow who, in many ways, “was everything you could want in a cow”, everything aside from her fearsome temper when crossed. Petal does not suffer fools and often gets in trouble when her fellow farm animals bother her, and then she lashes out angrily at them out of proportion to the original slight. When given long boring lectures on controlling her anger and lengthy timeouts, Petal often uses the time to instead amusingly contemplate revenge against those who angered her. When the farmer announces a field trip to a water park, a trip complete with pizza and ice cream stops, the farm animals are thrilled, and, in the horse’s resulting jump for joy, she accidentally lands on Petal’s hoof. Petal’s temper is triggered, and she yells insults at the horse for her clumsiness. The farmer warns her of the consequences of lashing out at someone because of an accident on their part, but, in her rage, Petal continues, and the farmer bars her from attending any field trips until she learns to control her temper.

In a rage, Petal runs off into the neighbouring field. Approaching a pond, Petal makes the acquaintance of a beautiful swan who tells Petal that he, too, has a temper, but it never seems to get in his way. Intrigued, Petal follows the swan to a Go Fish tournament, a craft table and a storytime with the other animals. Though the swan claims there’s “no problem” and counts to ten when he gets angry, he then proceeds to lash out at those around him, effectively ending all the fun activities one by one. When Petal tries to convince the swan to “act like a friend” and control his temper, the swan flies away in a huff, failing to see any problem with his behaviour. By witnessing the swan’s uncontrolled temper unleashed, Petal realizes that, by not managing her own temper, she’s been a terrible friend to the other animals.

Determined to start taking her own advice, Petal tries out her new philosophy, using deep breathing and other anger-mitigating strategies to avoid outbursts when things don’t go her way. After a long day of stifling her anger, Petal confesses to the farmer that controlling her temper is no easy feat. The farmer acknowledges her sacrifice but confirms that “many things worth doing aren’t easy”. Petal is rewarded for her successful anger management, and the final page shows her spending the next day on the field trip at the water park having earned the right to join her friends in the fun.

Maureen Fergus’ narrative serves as an approachable cautionary tale on the perils of uncontrolled anger and the detrimental effect it can have on those around us and to the opportunities given to us. Fergus cleverly introduces Golden Rule thinking when Petal is exposed to the temper of another and realizes that, as she doesn’t wish to be on the receiving end of anyone else’s unwarranted anger, she, in turn, should not be lashing out at others when angry. Fergus’ prose is accessible for younger readers with the farmyard characters and situations providing warmth and humour while still delivering a message. Olga Demidova’s illustrations complement the narrative, and, though simple in style, they reflect a range of emotions and reactions in Petal and the other animals, thereby humanizing their experiences for little readers. Her impressionistic green landscapes also provide a soothing backdrop to the drama of the story, showing that peace is attainable when not giving into anger (depicted in several full-page red splashes).