Review
A farmyard's worth of animals smile their way through this rhyming poem cum bedtime book about what makes each one of them happy. Rylant (Baby Face, reviewed above) starts off with brisk, chirpy lines: "Kitty loves a garden/ Kitty loves a rose./ Kitty loves to walk up high/ On her kitty toes." Working in watercolors and wax crayons, in panels and vignettes, Bates (Farmer Dale's Red Pickup Truck) animates the verse with an unapologetically anthropomorphized cast of creatures: his Bunny lounges against a gardener's workbasket as it snacks on lettuce leaves; his Mousey clasps pretty leaves in its paws as it gazes, enthralled, at a ladybug overhead. It's almost as if a particularly cute stuffed-animal collection had been the models. The tempo slows down a little as the woman seen gardening earlier reappears, now indoors and holding a smiling baby: "Baby loves his mama, who will/ Kiss his sleepy head." By the last page, the baby sleeps ensconced in his crib, with all the beaming animals arrayed in the window and along the sill: Chickie on Piggy's head, Mousey next to Kitty and so forth. A good choice for those who like their bedtime books served sunny-side-up. Ages 3-5. (Mar.) (
Publishers Weekly )
Product Description
Join a sneaky puppy for a joyous barnyard jaunt, and meet the many adorable babies spring has brought to a farm. There are ponies and puppies, piggies and duckies. And whether it's munching or snoozing, hiding or playing, they're all busy doing the things they love best.
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