Maxy is upset when her parents’ farm is left without animals after a health scare, but she keeps their memory alive looking after her own herd of ‘pretend cows’.
With her mother having fallen ill during pregnancy, her father starts to keep chickens and Maxy comes to terms with the challenges of the new birth as she encourages a stubborn hen to lay eggs.

Pretend Cows is one in a series of six illustrated short stories about young people growing up in the countryside.

Titles in the Country Tales series:

• Flying Free
• The Little Mistake
• The Mountain Lamb
• A Boy's Best Friend
• Pretend Cows

Nicola Davies is an award-winning author whose many books for children include Perfect (2017 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal Longlist), The Pond (2018 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal Longlist), the Shadows and Light series, The Word Bird, Animal Surprises, Into the Blue and The Secret of the Egg.

Cathy Fisher's first published books with Graffeg include Perfect, followed by The Pond, both written by Nicola Davies. Cathy has been a teacher and practicing artist all her life, living and working in the UK, Seychelles and Australia.