My farm friends

Wendell Minor

Book - 2011

Simple, rhyming text describes the characteristics of different farm animals. Includes "Farm friends fun facts" and books and websites for further reading.

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Subjects
Genres
Stories in rhyme
Picture books
Published
New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin c2011.
Language
English
Main Author
Wendell Minor (-)
Physical Description
unpaged : col. ill. ; 25 cm
ISBN
9780399244773
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Drawing on childhood memories of his family's Illinois farm, Minor celebrates farm animals furry, feathered, hairy, and woolly with warm watercolor-and-gouache artwork and cozy, playful rhymes that young children will love to hear many times over: Horses eat hay / And horses say neigh / They sleep standing up / Could you / sleep that way? Starting with the title page, depicting a kid stretching out to stroke a lamb, the art's textures invite kids to imagine the sensations of being on a farm as well as the mischief. On the spread accompanying the poem Billy goat / silly goat, / chews everything / Just because he's curious . . . It might make you furious, a goat stares back at viewers with a red paisley scarf in its mouth. Another spread informs kids that cows drink a bathtub full of water to produce milk every day, and the picture shows a cow drinking from an outdoor tub as a smiling boy takes his bath. More fun facts appear on the final spread, which includes Internet sources.--Rochman, Hazel Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Minor (Look to the Stars) introduces readers to common farm animals, portraying them at close range in watercolor gouache paintings that outshine the narrative. Some entries have little substance ("Roosters crow all day long/ They say cock-a-doodle-doo/ When it's early in the morning/ Will you cock-a-doodle too?") while others mention more interesting tidbits (pigs roll in the mud to stay cool, since they don't sweat, and barn cats like to nap on other animals' backs). Well-tailored to a preschool audience, Minor's large-scale art trades some of the meticulous detail and sophistication of his previous work for lifelike (if idealized) animals that exude personality and a gentle old-fashioned feel. There are splashes of visual humor: illustrating the fact that cows "drink a bathtub full of water" daily is a picture of a cow in a field drinking from a tub while a boy takes a bath. However, the verse's lack of consistent meter ("Lots of baby animals/ live on the farm too/ And guess what-/ They would all love to have/ A visit from you!") may contribute to a bumpy read-aloud. Ages 3-5. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review

PreS-K-Listeners are greeted by chirping birds, a mooing cow, and a crowing rooster, and welcomed to the farm by narrator Tom Bodett whose soothing, folksy delivery enhances this charming picture book (Putnam, 2011) written and illustrated by Wendell Minor. The pace is slow enough for listeners to take time to pour over the luminous illustrations and consider the rhyming text that offers fun facts about common farm animals, with a humorous twist. Bodett's voice is especially well-suited to sharing wry insights like, "cows drink a bathtub full of water to produce milk every day, but suppose you tried to take a bath and a cow got in the way?" Bodett seems as surprised as listeners to learn that a content turkey purrs like a cat and that a horse often sleeps standing up. Bodett steers clear of singsong cadence, which is fortunate, as some of the rhymes are a bit awkward. The narration of each page is accompanied by its own quiet but jaunty tune performed by woodwinds and strings. Sounds of the featured animals are also audible. The book concludes with additional bits of trivia about each of the ten highlighted animals. Listeners will enjoy their experience at the farm and want to revisit often.-Constance Dickerson, Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library, OH (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review

This inviting introduction to the farm showcases finely textured watercolor-gouache illustrations of happy, friendly farm animals. Each colorful animal portrait is accompanied by a short, self-contained verse that presents a kid-friendly fact about the animal ("Chickens come in many colors / But their combs are always red") or a glimpse into daily life on the farm. Additional "Fun Facts" are appended. Websites. (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

(Informational picture book. 2-5)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.