Review by Booklist Review
Though picture books in the find-the-tiny-objects genre can seem a bit aimless, this one has a clear destination: the farmers' market. The large double-page spreads present diverse landscapes crisscrossed with roads and full of details and features. As trucks haul food and flowers through the countryside to the green market in town, children can pick out features such as 2 picnic areas, 2 tractors, 1 school bus, or they can trace the mazelike routes of the trucks. The meticulously drawn illustrations, which are india ink drawings colored with acrylic, offer attractive vistas as well as interesting details. Puzzle fans will particularly enjoy searching for a route through the corn maze. Answer keys are appended. From a parent's or teacher's point of view, this is a good way for kids to gain the visual discrimination skills needed for reading, while they learn about the sources of food at their local farmers' markets. For kids, though, the combination of mazes and hidden objects is just plain fun. It's a winning combination.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
Each of ten two-page spreads features a maze of winding roads traveled by vehicles carrying locally sourced food; each spread segues to the next, and ultimately to a farmers' market, where locavores unite, shop, and recycle. Better still, readers are invited to scour the spreads for specified objects ("3 wind turbines," "1 boat-loading ramp," etc.). Answers appear at this well-executed book's end. (c) Copyright 2015. 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
With an interactive maze/map, Munro demystifies for children where all the items for sale at the farmers market originate. Readers must navigate each page's directions and maze to collect and ship the items. "Guide the boat to the dock's loading area. Transfer the catch to the FISH truck, go to the fish-packing plant, and drive toward town." Readers also collect apples, milk, cheese, corn, flowers, eggs, veggies, baked goods, and kids (going on a field trip to the greenmarket). Less a map than an aerial view of different areas, the illustrations lack any compass or map key, so children will need their powers of observation and deduction to notice the only dock and the only boat out to sea, the truck marked with a fish, and the building with the same sign out front (the challenges seem to grow in difficulty with page turns). Arrows mark one-way streets (not correct paths!), and readers must puzzle the shortest way to get from one page turn to the next. Lists of items to find in the bright, busy, detailed India ink and colored acrylic ink illustrations extend the fun. The backmatter includes thumbnails marking both the shortest routes and the hidden items, and a paragraph under each goes into more detail about the featured market item. A great way to introduce kids to their foods' origins and to prepare them for a greenmarket visit of their own. (Interactive informational picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
