Follow an adorable curious calf around for the day in Down on the Farm and learn to recognize all of the farm animals. The pages are filled with color, from delicately shaded backdrops to bright vibrant colors in the foreground and on the animals, with some mixture of collage pictures adding a bit of texture. The rooster's beautiful coloring will certainly catch your child's attention. Large letting in varying fun fonts give the words some attention and suggest when to emphasize lines for the sing-song cadence effect. The repetition of the main line "down on the farm" and rhymes further add to the song-like feeling.
There is plenty for your little one to do while you read the pages; they can clap along to the beat, or point at any of the new animals for you to help them name; there is a cow, rooster, mouse, crow, horse, duck, goose, turkey, dog, pig, goat, sheep, chicks, and cats. They will love to hear cock-a-doodle-dooing, cawing, nawing, and meowing with all the farm animals - maybe you will join in too! There is also a plentiful helping of baby humor, as the little calf is quite the comedian. He begins with a pot on his head as a hat, then steels the scarecrow's boot and ends up with it stuck on his head!
I used to read this book to my friend Sarah before she turned one. It was a fun bedtime, or pre-naptime, story because it had me singing, dancing, and making animal noises all over the place so it kept her engaged and focused on me and the book. By the end, she was usually as tired as I was!
--Audra
