The Thing That Bothered Farmer Brown [Hardcover]

Teri Sloat (Author), Nadine Bernard Westcott (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up

Farmer Brown and all his animals are ready for sleep, but a tiny whiny humming sound keeps them awake.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like Inside a Barn in the Country (reviewed above), this effort features a standard, mayhem-in-the-barn plot. As Farmer Brown desperately swats at an unseen mosquito whose "tiny, whiny, humming sound" keeps him up one night, he demolishes his bedroom and awakens all the animals in his barn. Westcott's (Never Take a Pig to Lunch) illustrations alternate between the farmer's room and the barn's interior, and the skeeter's flight path is indicated by a curly, dotted line across each page (observant readers will wonder why it's light outside the farmer's bedroom window, but nighttime-dark outside the barn window). Sloat (Letter to Letter) tries to build excitement by introducing the nervous animals one by one ("The doves cooed,/ The cows mooed,/ The old horse neighed,/ The donkey brayed"), while Westcott's spreads show anxious chickens tumbling in the hay and a grouchy goat leaping the cover. Yet for all the haphazard action, this tale lacks genuine vitality. Ages 4-7.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2?Farmer Brown's battle with a mosquito is told in toe-tapping verse in this delightful story based on a classic theme. The farmer who cannot sleep tries to kill a bothersome insect and each attempt disturbs more and more animals on the farm, "But the thing exhausting Farmer Brown was something flying round and round with a tiny, whiny, humming sound." Finally the house is quiet, the farmer is asleep...and readers see the pesky critter now annoying the animals in the barn. Westcott's charming black-ink and acrylic drawings spill across the pages in colorful, action-filled pictures. The placement of text and illustrations is energetic and appealing. Byron Barton's wordless Buzz Buzz Buzz (Macmillan, 1973; o.p.) and Jim Aylesworth's Hush Up! (Holt, 1980; o.p.) and Old Black Fly (Holt, 1992) all deal with bothersome bugs. This one hums right along with the best of them. A rousing story-hour offering that's frivolous and fun.?Beth Tegart, Oneida City Schools, NY
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 1 pages
• Publisher: Orchard Books (March 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531068838
• ISBN-13: 978-0531068830
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,137,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Make the mosquito sound to crack your kid up, August 8, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Thing That Bothered Farmer Brown (Paperback)

My son loves all of the Farmer Brown books, but I think he loves this one the most because I make that "tiny, whiny humming sound" when I read it to him!