What starts with a cow? (And just a few other things, like grass, the sun, water, hay, grain and rain.) Ice cream, of course! The process of ice cream production, from the five gallons of milk pumped from each cow by the milking machine to the final delivery of a carton of ice cream, is engagingly presented in both words and illustrations. The author’s well-chosen language creates vivid images of the cows in the field, where “mud and brambles mat the hair on their stomachs” and the huge silos at the ice cream factory, which are so big “the worker could swim laps across them.” An army of workers are involved in the process, including farmers, milk truck drivers, ice cream factory workers, scientists, forklift operators, and tasters (with insured tongues). Inventive placement of the text on each page and deceptively simple watercolor and pencil illustrations add to this fascinating examination of a tasty subject. (Ages 6-10)

A step-by-step exploration of how ice cream is made, beginning with the healthy foods cows eat to produce good milk, and ending with a carton of frozen treat.