On the Farm by David Elliott

Illustrated by Holly Meade. Candlewick Press, Cambridge, MA, 2007.
Hardcover edition, 32 pages, ISBN 978-0-7636-3322-6.

Meade's stunning and engaging earth-toned, double-spread woodcuts create a masterful backdrop for Elliott's simple, wry poetry. Children will delight in investigating the details of life on the family farm while absorbing clever observations on resident animals.

The Barn Cat
"Mice
had better
think twice."

Horn Book Starred Review
Cybils Award in Children's Poetry Books, Nominee, 2008
Raising Reader Selection, 2009

Click, Clack, Splish, Splash by Doreen Cronin

Illustrated by Betsy Lewin. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York, 2006.

Hardcover edition, 24 pages, ISBN 978-0689877162. 

A companion book to the Caldecott Honor-winning Click, Clack, Moo, Cronin and Lewin team up to enumerate the antics of farm animals on a secret mission to release the farmer's goldfish into the pond.

The hilarious tiptoeing animals plot behind the sleeping farmer's back to better living conditions for yet another group of underprivileged creatures. Piling buckets beneath the window, they climb into the farmhouse to rescue their fishy friends.  

Counting fun with a story.

Narrative skills include counting forward and back with phonological simple rhyming text. Print awareness and letter knowledge are enhanced through large well-spaced lettering.

Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep by Teri Sloat



Illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott. Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc. New York, 2000.

Hardcover edition, 32 pages, ISBN 0-7894-2637-4.

Farmer Brown's sheep desperately chase their recently sheared wool through the washing, combing, spinning, and dyeing processes. Noting their pathetic shivering, the farmer graciously knits them a closet full of colorful cardigan sweaters to wear until their wool grows back. Told in rhyme and detailed in watercolor, this story provides a lighthearted, educational romp through wool production.

A nice addition to a sheep-themed story hour with show and tell possibilities. If someone raises sheep, is a knitter, or has a spinning wheel, those elements may be drawn in. A possible craft might be to glue cotton balls on a sheep outline.

Narrative skills are developed in describing the sequence of wool processing. Vocabulary related to sheep farming is presented.