From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 2-After Farmer Joe heads to bed, Cow, Goat, Pig, Sheep, and Chicken pull out their instruments and electronic equipment, don their shades, and transform themselves into the rock band Punk Farm. Animals line up outside the barn to buy tickets, then settle in for a rousing show featuring a way-out version of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," with each musician doing a solo. At sunrise, a none-the-wiser Farmer Joe finds his sound-asleep livestock not quite ready for "a big day of work." Single- and double-page cartoon-style paintings combine muddy and bold colors to contrast the earthy farm setting with the energy, edginess, and excitement of the concert. Print, mostly white drop-out, is used effectively, juxtaposing traditional block style for the narrative with a larger, more graphic layout of the same typeface to suggest the distinctive musical sound. The eye-popping orange and purple front cover sets the scene and contrasts with the muted blues, browns, and greens of the back cover depicting the fabulous five in the barnyard, post-event. The fun is carried onto the endpapers, which feature a montage of posters, torn tickets, publicity "photos" of the band, and scrawled notebook pages. Quite a romp.
-Marie Orlando, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PreS-Gr. 2. At the end of a long day, Farmer Joe heads for bed. Back in the barn, a band of his animals prepare to rehearse for their rock concert later that night. Cow and Chicken set up drums and keyboard, while Pig and Goat tune their guitar and bass and vocalist Sheep tests the mike. At the performance, they play their version of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," with riffs on their instruments instead of the usual animal sounds. Their frantic fans go wild. Krosoczka says on the back flap that he had childhood daydreams of rock stardom, but even kids who've never picked up an air guitar will enjoy the droll humor. The paintings, which start out simple and bucolic, become increasingly jazzy as the band heats up, climaxing in a frenzy of form and color, then reverting to a quiet scene when morning brings Farmer Joe back to the barn. For parents and teachers who want an audio version, the book's Web site features a downloadable version of the song.
Carolyn PhelanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
