Pratchett Question

[yendi]

Okay, Where's My Cow? is now available, but I'd like to know what sort of content is in it. At 32 pages, it sounds like it's got more than just what we saw in Thud!, but I don't know for sure. Has anyone gotten their hands on a copy?

Comments

[jeff-morris.livejournal.com]

All I've heard is the synopsis, that Vimes reads this book to his son every night but doesn't think that it has any practical value to the boy so he "enhances" the story based on his own experiences.

The thought of Vimes' concept of a suitable kiddy book is enough to make me want it.

JSM

[jadecat9.livejournal.com]

I've got it. It's actually quite cute.

It's essentially a picture book of Vimes reading to Little Sam the book "Where's My Cow", with text in big block letters just like "See Spot RUN!

There is with some added text about "Where's My daddy" that includes characters like Detirus ("No, that's Detirus") and other coppers on the watch...the dream that Vimes when he fell asleep reading to Little Sam

It's a nice addition to THUD...but not essential. You can probably forgo it until the price drops down a bit more.

[jadecat9.livejournal.com]

I might also add that I got it, because it was Pterry's signing session in the Bay Area, and because Erik is (like Ian) a big time Pratchett fan. I had Pterry sign it for him

[gladstone.livejournal.com]

Detirus? Do you mean Detritus, the troll?

[jadecat9.livejournal.com]

Yes, sorry. Wrong spelling.

[tattermuffin.livejournal.com]

When I went to the signing in Capitola PTerry talked about the book and how his publisher thought it would be fun to print the book that is so important to Vimes as a father - he will be home at 6pm everyday and he will read to his son. What PTerry finds creepy about it - there's a picture of Vimes taking the book down off the shelf ... so in the book is a picture of Vimes taking the book that has a picture in it of him doing what he's doing ...

I was amused by the look of "I'm so creeped out by this" on the author's face as he told us about it. :)

[silme.livejournal.com]

It's cute, with pictures of him reading the book aloud... We have it at the school library. I've only looked at it briefly, enough to decide it's an essential for Ian, who is a big-time Pratchett fan. However, if you're not a major Pratchett afficiando, it's not necessary.

[hangingfire.livejournal.com]

Have not read Thud! yet, but flipped through "Where's My Cow?" and was highly amused, mostly for the second half. That's where we learn what Vimes thinks of as appropriate for a book for small kids whose sole exposure to farm animals will be, as the book puts it, "when they go sizzle!"

[rollick.livejournal.com]

That gag's in Thud! too. Not having a small child to entertain, I figure I'll pick up Where's My Cow? in the bookstore, flip through it in two minutes, and count myself satisfied. Though if it contains references like this one from Thud!:

Where's my daddy!
Is that my daddy?
It goes "Bugrit! Millennium hand and shrimp!
It is Foul Ol' Ron!
It is not my daddy!
…then I'm damned if I know who the target audience is. I mean, just from the Thud! references, it did sound like a very cute book for the pre-reading crowd, but if it's actually got commentary from Vimes in it, and references to the Discworld cast, that's just kinda odd.

[hangingfire.livejournal.com]

It does indeed contain that reference, actually. Which is very funny, but makes almost no sense to a reader unfamiliar with the Discworld. (Although a parent could probably make it amusing just by doing funny voices, I guess.)

[montykins.livejournal.com]

It's a children's story about Vimes reading Where's My Cow? to Young Sam. So it contains what we saw in Thud! but has a bit more, mostly Vimes's thoughts on the book ("This is a city! They go sizzle!") and his own version of it, the one that Lady Sybil caught him doing.

That said, it's still at 32-page children's book, so it's not really Essential Pratchett. Well, I bought it, but I don't think everyone has to.

[mycroftca.livejournal.com]

Yes, got it this morning and read it in the line to pay. It contains more of the sequence where he tells the tale of the city...