Review by Booklist Review
A simple, rhyming text and energetic watercolors celebrate old-time farm life. The lilting rhymes, in brief couplets ( Cows all moo / In the milking shed. / Cluck cluck cluck. / Hens are being fed ), all focus on sounds, which adds another thematic thread. From the yip of a puppy, to the buzz of bees, to the creak of old stairs, young listeners will want to chime in and can begin here to learn what various sounds look like in printed form. The pale, sunny, physically exaggerated illustrations portray all the members of a large family (Gramma, a mother, a father, three brothers, and three sisters) going about their full days caring for animals, cooking, harvesting, and more. This farm clearly isn't a modern one; water is still hand pumped, and in the evening the kids play jacks or cards or read (there is nary a touch screen to be found). A charming portrayal of rural days gone by.--Foote, Diane Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
Old stairs creak. / Come fast as you can. / Ham pop-pops / In the frying pan." Onomatopoeia-flecked rhymes describe a typical day with a farm family that suggests the Brady Bunch in the Waltons' time (and clothing). The rhymes have the easy gait of a country song, and the American regionaliststyle watercolor paintings invest the characters with simple-folk dignity. (c) Copyright 2012. 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
Cock-a-doodle-doo. / Wake up, girls, / And little boys, too") to finish ("Owl calls out / Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo. / Goodnight, boys, / And little girls, too"), this agreeable selection delivers the sounds, look and atmosphere of an old-time farm. Young children will enjoy the strong rhymes and catchy beat, which beckon them to join in, and appreciate the introduction to some of the specifics of the world of a farm, including cooking, chores and the rhythm of nature. Sneed's characters, both animal and human, and backgrounds are rendered with curving, sometimes off-kilter lines, constantly evoking motion and complementing the rhythmic text. In composition and perspective, they echo the heroic murals of the Works Progress Administration. He fills the pages with details (a swallow feeds its babies at its nest under the eaves) and humor (a pig squints lazily up from its bed in the mud). A snapshot of country life full of sounds and sentiment. (Picture book. 2-5)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
