From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 1--This engaging bedtime story begs for participation from children. A sleepy boy, clad in his pajamas and slippers, heads across the farm toward home. Along the way, he picks up an entourage of animals, one by one, and the friendly but noisy creatures follow him. The story is told through a series of rhyming verses, all of which should be completed by the word "bed." The rhyme is interrupted each time by the appearance of a loquacious animal. For example, "A boy, a duck, a horse, a sheep/look carefully where they tread./They tiptoe past the pigsty./ 'This is the way to…' 'Oink!'" This clever device allows readers to identify each one by appearance and by vocalization. The illustrations resemble the work Beeke did for Tara Jaye Morrow's
Mommy Loves Her Baby/Daddy Loves His Baby(HarperCollins, 2003). Her full-page, mixed-media pictures are captivating, providing an eye-pleasing blend of colors, textures, and facial expressions. A playful romp.
--Liza Graybill, Worcester Public Library, MA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PreS. The author of
Where's Tim's Ted (2000) returns to a favorite theme of farm animals as compatriots in this charming story about a tired little boy who has one thing on his mind--making it home to his pillow and comforter. But on his homebound route past a pond, he encounters first a duck, then a pig, a horse, and a sheep, each of which interrupts his comments with grunts and squeals. The boy invites all the animals to tag along, and the curious group of verbose vagabonds follows his lead to a warm, snuggly conclusion. Like Marie Torres Cimarusti's
Peek-a-Zoo (2003), this will delight preschoolers with its catalog of familiar animal sounds and likely trigger a rousing recitation of quacks, baaas, oinks, and neighs, right on cue. Beeke's soft-edged watercolors lend an English-countryside quality to this (ultimately) sleepy tale.
Terry GloverCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
