“Early on a white January morning, Samuel’s mother said, ‘I do wish we had a brown-eyed cow to give us milk for the baby.’”

So Papa sets out to get Mama a cow, and Samuel goes with him. “‘Keep up,’ said Samuel’s father. He looked up at the gray clouds. ‘It’s a long road on a short day.’”

Papa takes his best Barlow knife with him, but he doesn’t explain to Samuel how he plans to get a cow. He shows him. 

At the first farm they come to, Papa trades his knife to Mr. Snow for two tin lanterns. It’s a good trade for the knife, but as Samuel plays with Mr. Snow’s dog, he wishes, “just a little bit, it wasn’t a brown-eyed cow his mother was wanting.”

At the next farm, Samuel gets to play with Mr. Perry’s kittens while Papa makes a trade with him. Papa trades the lanterns for a book of poetry, but Samuel thinks about the kitten and wishes again, “just a little bit, it wasn’t a brown-eyed cow his mother was wanting.”

The book is beautiful, but it’s hard to believe any of the farmers along the way are going to want to trade for it. But Papa knows exactly who will, and the trading continues. 

As the trading goes on, the day wears away and the weather gets worse, but Papa and Samuel keep going.

Along the way, they trade for a variety of things, including a sheep, and a pony and cart. But those aren’t what Mama wants. 

At the last farm, Mr. Everett says that Papa should be proud of Samuel, and Samuel knows he is. He has kept up with Papa on the long road on a short day. He has not complained or begged for things he would rather have had than a cow. His good behavior doesn’t earn him everything he wants, but at the end of the short day, everyone in Samuel’s family is content.

This book is a collaboration between Gary D. Schmidt and his late wife Anne, whose pen name was Elizabeth Stickney. And, of course, with the illustrator, Eugene Yelchin. His folk-art style exactly suits the story. 

The illustrations are wonderful, but this is a chapter book rather than a picture book. Here is a full-page sample of the reading level. 

You may buy A Long Road on a Short Day at Amazon.