What Floats in a Moat?
Archie the goat and Skinny the hen need to deliver three barrels of buttermilk to the queen in her castle. A moat surrounds it so Skinny suggests they use the drawbridge. Archie nixes that idea and proclaims "This is a time for science!" Through trial and error they discover a full barrel sinks, an empty barrel rolls, but a boat built from a half-empty barrel will sail. Cordell's energetic watercolor and ink illustrations are amusing and goofy. A wonderful read-aloud that teaches the Archimedean discoveries about water displacement in a most entertaining way. Science was never so much fun as this eccentric float-your-boat-in-a-moat story. Ages 6-8