By: Mike Gilbert
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Ermintrude was once a happy cow. Looked after by the children she shared her milk, so all the children were happy too.
Then along came a series of grown-ups who thought they could look after Ermintrude better than the children.
But really, they just wanted Ermintrude’s milk for themselves.
This story introduces children to concepts like wealth, power, and privilege in a delightful way that will have them chattering amongst themselves and with grown-ups perhaps for a lifetime.
Born in London and having lived in the eastern England since the 1970s, Mike has had an interest in storytelling and politics going back to his childhood. In the 1980’s he studied politics philosophy and economics. This led to a lifetimes interest in how the dynamics of power work, within economic frameworks and how the outcomes affect ordinary people. Mike believes that children have an innate sense of social justice and are very capable of understanding the conflicting economic, social, and political demands that affect ordinary people. In 1988 Mike trained to be a Probation Officer. This story is a combination of Mike’s love of politics and economics and his wish to encourage children to discussion what is ‘just’ and what might be ‘unjust’.
This is a fun, engaging, and accessible book that has the potential to spark interesting and important discussion between children and their parents about ideas concerning fairness, justice, sharing, and equality. It encourages children to consider what each of the characters represents, and in so doing to ask questions about who has power and authority and why. It is fundamentally a story about who does, does not, and who should have control over resources and their distribution. This is a valuable resource to, as all evidence suggests, help children understand how society works and to cultivate voice and instill agency amongst the generation of tomorrow.
A book that refreshingly celebrates children's naivety as a vehicle for engaging in meaningful, thoughtful conversations about challenging concepts like power, authority, consciousness, and equality without the preconceived biases and assumptions adults carry throughout life with a frequent reluctance to develop or challenge their thought processes if necessary.
I am a ward sister on the children’s ward at pilgrim & reviewed this book with a wide evidence base of children, from toddlers to my own children who are 7 and 9. The parents of the sick children at work asked lots of questions and provided great feedback, What would the children do? Questions surrounding hierarchy and teamwork with the adults, would that be better, less greed. Some did say that we have to get the best out of the cow in order to make money. In the words of my 9-year-old. Why did the man with the gold watch, the men with crown and clipboard and the lady with the calculator have to be so greedy and take the cow the children looked after. He also stated that they weren’t being kind to the cow and the children & it was selfish to take the cow to make more milk. If they were rich, why didn’t they buy their own cow rather than take a cow that was happy and made the children happy. I would tell them that, he said. They aren’t being kind & being kind is the best thing. In summary, Mr Gilbert’s book is well researched, well written, thought provoking for both adults and children from toddlers to 10-year-olds with a message that many can relate to.
I loved the story and think children will do too. I can imagine a nursery class or an individual child giving their solutions. I like the suggestions for how the story could be used and I think this gives a really good base for Nurseries to do some great work on Justice and the voice of the child. Just my thoughts I wish you every success and look forward to doing some work with you and the book for the Book Festival.
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