School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3-The adventuresome cow returns. Clorinda is determined to fly and enlists the help of Hop the pig and Len the farmhand. Using scavenged parts, the three cobble together a plane (powered by Len's washing machine), a rocket (with canister vacuums), and a helicopter (a rowboat with oar "blades"), but each vehicle crashes. The trio finally succeeds with a hot-air balloon stitched together out of clothes from Len's wash line and filled with air heated by using sunlight and mirrors. Clorinda and Hop glide across the ocean for a visit with the Queen of England. Luckily, the generous monarch sends back a box of tea (wrapped in a Union Jack) for Len, who was unintentionally left behind. Never missing a beat, Kinerk's rhyming text celebrates friendship and cooperation: "Len, Hop, and the cow made a very good team./The guys kept her working, and she helped them dream." Kellogg's mixed water-based medium paintings show the immensity of the world and the characters' imaginations. The artist perfectly captures light, from buttery dawn to the indigo of space, and a fantastic in-between of a cloud-studded sky. Comic images abound, such as a rear view of Hop being knighted. Great fun for one-on-one sharing.-Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Clorinda, who tried her hoof at ballet in Clorinda, dreams big once again in Clorinda Takes Flight by Robert Kinerk, illus. by Steven Kellogg. Observing a bird flying over the farm, Clorinda is determined to be the first airborne bovine. After several unsuccessful attempts, Clorinda finds herself aloft in a hot air balloon heading toward England. (S&S/Wiseman, $16.99 40p ages 4-8 ISBN 9780-689-86864-1; Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Kinerk and Kellogg pair up for another adventure featuring Clorinda, the cow with distinctly bigger-than-bovine aspirations. With her friends, Len the farmhand and Hop the pig, helping mightily, Clorinda works to achieve her new dream--to fly. Kinerk's verse scans nicely and offers young readers a rollicking account of the friends' mechanical mishaps and impressive stick-to-itiveness. Kellogg's exuberant paintings depict the trio's ups and downs with his always welcome, signature blend of comic detail and expansive perspective, as Clorinda and Pig sail all the way to London in a hand-built hot-air balloon. Feted by the Queen herself and supplied with some royal tea for left-behind Len, their return trip ends with the threesome talking "of adventures, of friendship, and dreams" under a luminous moon. Hopefully, we've not seen the last of them, nor of Kinerk and Kellogg's agreeable collaboration. High-flying fun. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The creators of Clorinda (2003), about the cow who followed her dream to become a ballet dancer, offer another hilarious commentary on the importance of perseverance. This time Clorinda has a yearning to fly; with assistance from Farmer Len and Hop the pig, she acquires first a plane and then a helicopter, with predictably disastrous results. Undeterred, she and her friends construct a hot-air balloon, which is so successful that they fly all the way to London, where they are knighted by the queen. Kellogg's signature artwork is spot-on for the story. Relying heavily on a pallet of yellow tones, his sunny illustrations pick up on the humor of Kinerk's rhyming text and leave no doubt that the intrepid Clorinda will eventually triumph. Pair this with Doreen Cronin's Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type (2000) for another look at bovine overachievers.--Weisman, Kay Copyright 2007 Booklist