Runaway Roundup: Biscuit's Day at the Farm by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

How do a puppy and a piglet make friends?

"COME ALONG, BISCUIT! WE'RE GOING TO HELP ON THE FARM!"

"WOOF! WOOF!"

Biscuit is a natural herder, so when his girl discovers that the pigpen is empty, he's on the case right away.

Biscuit finds all the pigs and all the piglets are now in the pigpen with Mama Pig! Great! The farm helpers move along to their next chore--feeding the goats! But now....

"OH! THE PIGLET IS OUT OF THE PEN, BISCUIT!"

The piglet is at the goats" feeding trough, eating their food. This won't work! The girl picks up the piglet and carries him all the way back to the pigpen, and she calls Biscuit to come with her to the next chore.

"LET'S FEED THE SHEEP!"

Biscuit is on the job! But the runaway piglet is already in the sheep pen and on top of their hay! This is not right!

It's back to the pigpen with the piglet. Mission accomplished. But--Oh, now....!

"EVERY GOOSE IS ON THE LOOSE!"

It's a good thing our girl has a trusty herd dog along to help, in Alyssa Satin Capucilli's Biscuit's Day at the Farm (My First I Can Read) (Harper), as Biscuit helps with the last roundup of the day. Everyone is where they should be and eating their own food at last, and all is well down on the farm. but with both visiting helpers about ready for a nice nap back home!

Artist Pat Schories' soft pastel illustrations of little animals being themselves are humorous and beguiling in this action-filled trip to the farmyard, just right for preschool and emergent readers ready for a first field trip to the farm or for young ones just learning to recognize and name different farm animals.

On With The Show! The Farm That Mac Built by Tammi Sauer

There's no business like show business!

And when a cast of the usual farm animals decide to put on a barn show, Scarecrow the empressario puts together a troup of Vaudeville wannabes all ready to wow their audience.

A couple of hens with flashlights flap up to the rafters to provide the stage lighting, the curtains open, and the pigs sashay out with their top hats and canes and begin to do the old soft shoe. But the tap of their trotters is followed by waltzing cows in ballroom gowns...

THAT LIVE ON THE FARM THAT JACK BUILT!

and NOW...

... MONKEYS!?

Oh, dear! These don't belong on the farm!

Emcee Scarecrow shoos the monkeys offstage in time for the next scheduled act--Sheep That Leap--but their dance is interrupted by break-dancing...

KANGAROOS?

And scarcely has the next scheduled act, the horse (NEIGH!) begun his one-man-band gig with a concertina jig when a pair of Viking elephants give the rest a scare. The cast scatters to hide behind the scenery until...

... a troup of hatching eggs jiggle out and with a chorus of cracks, out comes a brood of baby...

PENGUINS?

But the show must go on! That's show biz at Old Mac's Farm, in Tammi Sauer's latest, The Farm That Mac Built, a comical mashup of two nursery songs, "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" and "This Is the House that Jack Built" that combines zoo animals and farm animals in one of the whackiest casts that ever trod the boards together. With funny illustrations by author-illustrator Jackie Urbanavic (creator of the hilarious Duck at the Door (Max the Duck) series) (see my reviews here) this is one fractured folksong production that breaks the mold! Says School Library Journal, "Lots of word repetition and animal sound effects, combined with Urbanovic’s comically expressive cartoon illustrations, make this a rollicking read-aloud."

Barnyard Revolution! Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell

THERE WAS ONCE A DUCK WHO HAD THE BAD LUCK TO LIVE WITH A LAZY OLD FARMER.

THE DUCK DID THE WORK. THE FARMER STAYED IN BED.

While the blubbery farmer lounges, enjoying a breakfast tray brought by Duck, reading newspapers and eating chocolates all day, the duck must do all the farmwork. He watches the cow in the pasture, bringing her back at night to the barn, and, giving her some grain, milks her faithfully. He brings the sheep back to the barn at night, carrying the wayward ones on his back. He feeds and  hustles the hens off to their coop at night.

Duck digs the garden, climbs up a ladder to pick apples in the orchard, saws the wood, and aproned appropriately, cooks the meals and irons in the kitchen. The farmer only bestirs himself occasionally to yell out his bedroom window.

"HOW GOES THE WORK?"

"QUACK!"

ANSWERS THE DUCK.

At last Duck can carry on alone no more.

DUCK IS SLEEPY AND WEEPY AND TIRED.

The barnyard animals come together. Poor Duck! Upset, they call a meeting and make a PLAN.

And just before dawn they creep quietly out of the barn and sneak across the barnyard and through the kitchen door.

THEY CREAKED UP THE STAIRS AND STOLE DOWN THE HALL.

With the help of the hens, even the cow scoots beneath the sleeping farmer's bed. They begin to shake and rock and rattle the bed, and the farmer awakes to face the rebels in full force.

HE FLED WITH THE COW AND SHEEP AND HENS MOOING, AND CLUCKING AND BAAING AROUND HIM...

AND HE NEVER CAME BACK.

It's justice restored with the barnyard revolt, after which all the animals share the work and the rewards on their farm, in Martin Waddell's beloved classic in reissue, Farmer Duck (Candlewick Press.) With its theme that everyone should pull his weight in this world, Waddell's text, simple and yet so timely, has not lost its punch, and the beloved artist, Helen Oxenbury's rustic illustrations are as lovely and evocative as ever. A picture book that no child should miss.

Eggnapper! Big Egg by Molly Coxe

HEN HAS SOME EGGS.

In her cozy nesting box, Hen is proud of her clutch of four little eggs. But, wait!

ONE IS BIG!

It's obviously not Hen's egg! She resolves to make some inquiries.

She loads her four little eggs and the Big Egg into her stroller and trundles them out of the hen house. Outside she spots Cat.

Could it be a cat egg?

"NO!" SAYS CAT.

Hen inquires of each animal she meets. Dog denies that it is a dog egg, and Mama Pig and piglets in her mud wallow decline ownership, too. Cow and Goat vehemently reject the very idea of a Cow or Goat egg.

Fox peers out from behind a tree, so Hen poses the question to him!

"IS IT A FOX EGG?"

"YES!"

Fox and little Fox push Hen's stroller with their prize at top speed to their little house under a hill, where the grinning foxes grab fork and knife and prepare for a tasty dinner.

But with a PEEP! the four little eggs begin to hatch. And so does the Big Egg, in a big way!

"SQUAWK!"

A very large, long-legged ostrich chick pops out! Fox suddenly realizes he's lost his appetite for poultry! He exits, page right!

Hen pops her four little chicks into her carrier, and then she and the Big Chick make a run for the hen house together!

HEN LOVES THEM ALL!

Molly Coxe's Big Egg (Step-Into-Reading, Step 1) has it all as a read for emergent readers--a satisfyingly funny, fast-moving plot in which the bad guy is foiled and courage and mother love are rewarded, all done up in few, but well chosen words, with plenty of contextual prompts in the clever illustrations which help beginning readers sail through the story with pleasure. Share this one with Molly Coxe's Hot Dog (Step-Into-Reading, Step 1).

She Did It Herself! Holy Squawkamole! by Susan Wood

Little Red Hen was hungry for guacamole.

She's got beans and cumin, masa and queso. But she doesn't want burritos. She wants guac and dipper chips!!

But she didn't have any avocados!

Down in the grove the avocados are hanging high on the tree.

"Coati, will you help me gather avocados for my guacamole?"

Coati passes, but he offers to help eat it when she's done.

So Little Red Hen picks her own avocados. Then she turns to tomatoes. And there's Snake, curled up right beside the tomato plants. Will he help harvest them for her?

Negative. Snake reports that he's all tied up. But he'll be over for the leftovers later, he adds.

Guacamole is not fit to eat without the zest of onions, so Little Red Hen heads over to the onion patch. And there's Armadillo, with paws just made for digging, but he's busy basking and not available for the asking, although he says he'll be up for noshing in the afternoon shade.

Little Red Hen heads for the herb garden. Will Iguana help select some cilantro?

Iguana says no, but says he'll give the guac a go later. So Little Red Hen heads home to her cozy cocina, where she wonders aloud who is willing to mash and mix with her. As one, all the animals reply, predictably...

"Not I!"

So Little Red Hen does it all herself. And then she adds her secret ingredient!

"HOLY GUACAMOLE! That's a lot! Who will help me eat it?" said Little Red Hen.

The feeding frenzy among the lazy snackers quickly turns into a hot time in the old town tonight, as Coati, Snake, Armadillo, and Iguana get a surprise from Little Red Hen's secret ingredient--hot peppers!

"It's a smokin' hot guacamole!" in Susan Wood's South of the Border-flavored Holy Squawkamole!: Little Red Hen Makes Guacamole (Sterling Children's Books, 2019) in a zesty re-write of the old folk tale The Little Red Hen. in which Laura Gonzalez's spicy illustrations in warm tropic colors are part of the recipe for a tasty picture book. Author Wood sprinkles some piquant Spanish words into the mix along the way, as well as Little Red Hen's recipe for guacamole and a glossary for young foodies who may hanker for some chips and dip, too.

Sheepish? Who's Sheepish? Sheep Dog and Sheep Sheep by Eric Barclay

Sheep loves to dance. She knows all kinds of fancy dancing...

... the Wildflower Dance..., ... the Get This Spider Off of Me Dance...

and of course... the Pee-Pee Dance.

And sometimes in her ecstasy she closes her eyes and... bumps into things.

And one day she bumps into a very hairy dog.

"I'm the sheep dog," he said. "I watch sheep."

Immediately Sheep Sheep has a bone to pick with Sheep Dog over their respective job descriptions. Sheep insists that as a sheep, she is the expert at sheep watching. She also points out that he can't be much of a sheep watcher with all that hair in his face and skips off to the farmhouse for a fetching ribbon to tie his forelock into a dainty topknot.

Sheep Dog has to admit that he can see better with his new hairdo and to prove it, he rescues Sheep Sheep from a diving eagle. As she trips off for some binoculars to improve his vision, Sheep Dog spots another carnivorous critter looking for a tasty lamb chop.

"COYOTE!!!!"

Saved, Sheep Sheep dances off to fetch a map, requiring Sheep Dog to save her again from a breach in the bridge! Oblivious, Sheep Sheep declares Sheep Dog now equipped for sheep-watching duty.
But where are the sheep? Neither of them can spot a single fleece. This lamb is adamant. Now whose fault is that?

"DID YOU LOSE THEM?"

It seems that Sheep Sheep failed to do her due diligence as she looks around and finds that she is indeed a only sheep in this particular pasture, in Eric Barclay's sweet sheep saga, Sheep Dog and Sheep Sheep (HarperCollins, 2019). Barclay's comic and clueless Sheep Sheep is an adorable foil for the dutiful Sheep Dog, devoted to doing his darnedest to protect his little charge, and in this charming little story illustrated by the author, the two emerge as a delightful storybook duo. As School Library Journal puts it, "Barclays's quick-witted text is as endearing as his pastel pencil and Photoshop illustrations..."

Porcine Eccentric: Business Pig by Andrea Zuill

One morning at the Sunshine Sanctuary for Farm Animals, Jelly Bean the sow gave birth to a litter of piglets.

Right away the volunteers noticed something unusual.

One of the piglets arrived wearing a dark suit and tie and equipped with a briefcase. The volunteers are quickly convinced that this little porcine protagonist is clearly an outlier.

Unlike his siblings, he sips coffee from a white porcelain mug and is too fastidious to grub around in the muck, preferring a shovel to his snout for rooting up grubs.

"I believe what we have here is a gen-u-wine business pig," drawled one of the volunteers.k

The conscientious volunteers construct him an office in an empty stall, with a square bail of hay for a desk, an executive chair, and a computer of his own. Jasper is pleased.

They let him help with the bookkeeping.

And this porker is a worker! Jasper keeps busy tabulating data, totaling his entries, charting his figures in bar graphs, line graphs, and pie graphs, posting flow charts in prominent places. But the stock and the stockholders are unimpressed.

The goat ate his business card.

Little Jasper doesn't quite fit in into the bucolic setting.

His only hope for full employment is to get adopted. He throws himself into an advertising campaign to market his skills. He persuades the local media to feature him. The cows graze in sandwich signs touting his qualifications. He nails posters with tear-off phone numbers onto telephone poles.

Finally Jasper's campaign draws a promising applicant, a woman with a bespectacled little girl who carries... a briefcase!

He was pleased to see she was actually studying his charts! She wanted to exchange business cards. Then she requested his resume'.

A contract is signed, and it's a match made in business school heaven, in Andrea Zuill's forthcoming Business Pig (Sterling, 2018)l the story of a maverick porker who finds the perfect partnership placement.

Author Zuill's comic but understated text is well-paced to set off her delightful design, varying spot art drawings with full-bleed pages which set off her subtle but droll blackline illustrations that invite lingering over each page. A satisfying picture book outing with the premise of placing a square peg in just the right hole.

Back to School! Click, Clack, Quack to School by Doreen Cronin

Farmer Brown's got MAIL, and Duck delivers the letter, some of it written in orange crayon.

Dear Farmer Brown,

Please be our guest at our Farm Day lunch tomorrow.

Bring the animals, too!

Love,
Dinkelmeyer Elementary School
P.S. What's your favorite color?
P.P.S.: How old are you?P.P.P.S.: We have a turtle.

It's been quite a while since Farmer Brown has been to school. He's honored, and he wants his farm animals to make a good impression.

But when he tells them about their visit, they begin to cluck, and moo, and oink excitedly. Farmer Brown lectures his livestock sternly.

"School is very serious," he tells his hens. "No CLUCK, CLUCK, CLUCKING!"

"School is very calm," he tells the cows. "No STOMPING, CLOMPING, AND MOOING."

"School is very quiet," he tells the pigs. "No HOOTING, HOLLERING, OR OINKING."

Now it is time to lay down the law to Duck, who is always up to something. But Farmer Brown finds her meditating solo, seated on her yoga cushion, eyes closed, breathing slowly in and out. She doesn't register any reaction to his words, but he warns her anyway.

"Try not to be--Ducky,"

With his critters properly chastised, the next morning Farmer Brown loads his subdued livestock up in his truck and drives them to the elementary school. Strangely, when they arrive at Dinkelmeyer Elementary, there are no signs of a gala Farm Day celebration under way in the schoolyard. But at least his charges are following the rules. No one is mooey, clucky, or oinky, and Duck still seems to be concentrating exclusively on her deep breathing. The whole building is just as a school should be-- quiet, calm, and serious.

And then the bell rings.

Suddenly the schoolyard explodes with noisy energy as the kids run outside for recess....

Squeaking and squealing...

Zooming and zigging....

And Farmer Brown's animals quickly revert to type and join the kids in their free-for-all of chattering and yelling. The cows are mooey, stomping and clomping, the pigs are oinky, wallowing and hollering, and the chickens are cluckey, snapping and clapping. It seems the critters fit right in with the kids.

But where is Duck?

Duck is being--Ducky, seated in the school office at the Principal's desk, perhaps writing some new school rules with an orange crayon:

Be kind. Be helpful. Be honest. Be safe.

Respect one another, and don't eat the paste.

For a quick review of school rules, Doreen Cronin's new beginner reading story, Click, Clack, Quack to School! (A Click Clack Book) (Atheneum, 2018) is just what the teacher ordered. Duck is up to her old tricks, this time with a little forgery and finagling, and illustrator Betsy Lewin's unique and quirky characters are more charming than ever, if possible. For more take-your-critters-to-school fun, pair this one with Cynthia Rylant's and Arthur Howard's delightful Mr. Putter and Tabby Ring the Bell (see review here).

Spring Fling: Little Blue Truck's Springtime by Alice Schertle

Little Blue Truck is back and just in time to see what's new!

IT'S A YOO-HOO, SKY-BLUE, SPRING-SING DAY

WHAT DO THEY SEE ALONG THE WAY?

Little Blue Truck is on the road with his best friend Toad, and everywhere they look, Toad and Little Blue see something magically new, in Alice Schertle's latest, a lift-the-flap delight that reveals brand-new farm friends to meet.

Down at the barn, the stall door opens to reveal Mama Sheep's babies--twin white lambkins!

There's a new born calf in the cowshed, and in the sty Mrs. Pig has ten pink piglets. And and what do they see hidden in the clover?

A BUNNY SISTER AND A BUNNY BROTHER

AND ANOTHER... AND ANOTHER!

The birds and crickets are singing. Frogs in the pond are leaping. And Little Blue Truck can't keep from beeping!

Alice Schertle's cheery rhyming Lift-the-Flap book reveals all the spring surprises in her latest Little Blue Truck's Springtime (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), a joyful way to introduce tots and preschoolers to the happy renewal of the springtime. Accompanied by his pal Toad, the famous anthropomorphic little farm pickup truck shows youngsters all the new life of spring, from ducklings swimming behind Mother Duck in a line to chicks exiting from their eggs in Mrs. Hen's nest. Schertle's happy rhymes are set off in lovely landscapes pictured by artist Jill McMurray, whose pastel watercolors speak sweetly of springtide.

Other books by this talented pair include the first in series, Little Blue Truck Board Book,, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way, Little Blue Truck's Halloween, and Little Blue Truck's Christmas, all preschool classics. (See reviews here)

Stranger Danger? Click, Clack, Moo I Love You! by Doreen Cronin

IT'S VALENTINE'S DAY ON THE FARM.

But for the head honcho, Farmer Brown, it's first things first. His wheelbarrow, shovel, fork, and hay bales await him early in the morning, keeping the pigs clean (as if!) and the donkey happy. And to keep everyone safe from marauding foxes, he mends the fences.

Farmer Brown does his work, while Little Duck takes charge of the party planning:

SHE TIED BALLOONS TO ... EVERYTHING! SHE HUNG STREAMERS TO... EVERYTHING!

And it's heavy on the paint, glitter and glue with piles of Valentines for everyone on the farm. Little Duck looks like a walking Valentine herself, with paint and glitter all over. But soon Farmer Brown's work and the festive preparations are done, and it's time to PAR-TY!

Little Duck, the hostess with the mostest, meets the guests at the door with Valentines for everyone. Someone cranks up some hoedown music, while the fashionably late sheep head straight for the chips and salsa. The pigs do the porcine polka and the poultry begin to boogie down doin' that chicken dance. Even the barn mice do the hustle. Then the cows show up, bringing a banner touting their alternative shindig.

JOIN US AT THE SECOND ANNUAL DIVINE BOVINE BALL.
FORMAL ATTIRE, PLEASE!

Everybody is busy doin' their own thing. The party is cookin' and rustic fiddle music floats out of the barn and across the starry fields.

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE, AT THE TOP OF THE HILL, LITTLE FOX HEARD THE MUSIC. SHE CALLED: YIP, YIP, YIP!

NOBODY ANSWERED. BUT THERE WAS A TRAIL OF VALENTINES TO FOLLOW.

Now, the guests don't exactly welcome a party-crashing fox, not even one with a Valentine trailing from her tail. The chickens freeze in mid-flap. The pigs' trotters stop in their tracks. The sheep cease in mid-munch. And all the mice hustle for their holes, hoping not to become fox hors 'd'oeuvres.

It's an awkward fox-in-the-hen-house moment.

But Little Duck has one handmade Valentine left, and as she graciously hands it to Little Fox with a warm welcome, the party returns to full swing, with everyone trying out the fox trot!

EVERYBODY DANCES WITH EVERYBODY UNTIL...

THE COWS CAME HOME!

It's quite a mixer at the Valentine's Day dance down on the farm, in Doreen Cronin's newest in her beloved bucolic series, Click, Clack, Moo I Love You! (A Click, Clack Book) (Atheneum, 2017). Cronin's sweet story welcomes the spirit of St. Valentine's Day with warmth and humor, and Betsy Lewin's rustic watercolor illustrations of farm critters making merry are as cute and charming as ever. School Library Journal says, "The economical text maximizes impact while giving the illustrations plenty of space to tell the story," and Publishers Weekly adds, "Cronin subtly passes along some sage advice: the best parties have an element of the unexpected."

Cronin and Lewin are, of course, the creators of the top-selling series which began with Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type (A Click, Clack Book) (read reviews here.)

North Pole or Bust! Chicken in Mittens by Adam Lehrhaupt

Zoey stepped out of the barn. So did her best pig, Sam.

Fresh snow covered the farm.

"We can be EXPLORERS!" said Zoey.

"It's cold!" said Sam

"ARCTIC Explorers! said Zoey.

Zoey and Sam share a pair of mittens--one on each of their heads.

With their skis on their feet and their mitten on their heads, Sam and Zoey set out. They have two objectives: reach the North Pole and find a Yeti!

Zoey and Sam are full of zeal until they come to a barbed wire fence. They can't climb over it on their skis. Perhaps they can go under it?

It takes a lot of wiggling from Zoey and waggling from Sam, but finally they leave the fence behind and approach the mountain. Sam and Zoey are now stalwart mountain climbers.

But what goes up must come down, and the two Arctic explorers become downhill sliders--way downhill!

"NOW I'm cold," said Sam.

But Zoey zooms toward a strange, shaggy, snowy figure. Could he be their Yeti? She asked directions to the North Pole but when the figure remains silent, she gives him a sturdy tap. The snow slides off to reveal a shabby scarecrow on a tall pole. Oh, well. Maybe this is the NORTH POLE, then.

Sam suggests they call it a successful expedition to the polar region (well, sort of) and head for home, in the newest beginning reader in the series by Adam Lehrhaupt,Chicken in Mittens (I Can Read Level 1) (Harper, 2017), featuring his hearty partners Zoey and Sam who include young independent readers in their reading adventures. Other books in this new one in Harper's celebrated sixtieth year of I-Can-Read series by author Lehrhaupt and artist Shahar Koban are Chicken in Space (see review here), and Chicken in School.

Track It Down! Follow the Trail: Farm (Take a Peek) by Dawn Strett

USE YOUR FINGER TO FOLLOW...

THE TINY TRACTOR AND THE TINY ANIMALS

ALONG THE GLITTERY TRAIL.

With that hard-to-resist invitation, youngsters are invited to follow the sparkly green ribbon linking them to those familiar farm animals and implements. There are plenty of both for most preschoolers in this title, from a big honking machine like the red tractor to cute tiny farm animals to find when they follow the tactile trail.

As an additional inducement, there is a die-cut peephole on each page with a clue to what they will see on the following page to lead youngsters on with each turn of the sturdy pages--a duckling, a little yellow chick, a sheep, a mama chicken in the cozy coop described simply as a little house with nest boxes, and contented cows. An added trick reverses the way from back to front by following the various insects strategically placed to be visible through the die-cut take-a-peek holes.

DK book designers are past masters of putting stuff on the page for maximum appeal, and in this board book in their Follow the Trail series, Follow the Trail: Farm (Dorling Kindersley, 2016), young children will be led irresistibly through the book while working on their vocabulary of farm animals and insect names and equipage of the typical farm while also developing hand-to-eye coordination and making some animal sounds along the way. This is an appealing book in a engaging series for home or early childhood education purposes that leads the child toward independent individual interaction with a book.

Some other books in this toy-and-movable book series are Follow the Trail: Trucks, Follow the Trail Wild Animals, Follow The Trail: Baby Animals, and Follow the Trail: Baby Dinosaurs, showing the way to meet the many proclivites of preschoolers.

Not Sheepish! Brave Little Finn (Sweet Pea and Friends) by John and Jennifer Churchman

One cold winter morning, a shy little lamb was born.

"We'll call you Finn," said Farmer John. He held him close, keeping him warm inside his green barn jacket.

Finn had been born early and wasn't as big and strong as the other lambs.

Growing up is hard to do, especially when you've got a lot of ground to make up to keep up with your friends. But Team Sheep Ranch goes to work, making sure Little Finn is warm and well fed, and all the flock is rooting for Finn.

Finn's big sister Sweet Pea visited him every day, even when it was windy and cold. She would put on her favorite woolly scarf and come up to the farm house to tell him all the news from the barn.

Little Finn spent his days by the fireplace and made friends with the dogs and puppies.

Finn is still shy, even when spring begins to show up outside the farm house. It's a big world out there, but Finn is done with the baby bottle and out of his baby diaper and ready to explore, with the collie Maisie Grace keeping a loving eye on him.

"Be brave, Little Finn. I will be with you," said Maisie Grace.

And when Finn meets the other lambs--Atticus, Meadow and Hayzel--they are full of questions about being raised inside the house. Then they take on the task of teaching him how to be a outdoor lamb in the flock. He visits Frog at the pond and meets the color purple in the just-blooming lilacs and the busy bees at work in the meadow. He also meets another small but intimidating creature.

"Spiders are so SCARY!" he tells Laddie the dog.

The big tractor parked in the darkest reaches of the barn looks like a crouching monster to Finn, but the most intimidating thing out in the field is a pile of hay bales, stacked up like a massive pyramid. The other lambs compete with each other to see who can climb the fastest and the highest. Little Finn wonders if he ever will be able to reach the peak of that towering mountain. But each day he gets a bit higher... until one day Little Finn is no longer timid; his now bouncy legs bound all the way to the top--and everyone, Maisie Grace, Atticus, Meadow, Hayzel, Sadie, and Laddie, and of course sister Sweat Pea, are all there to cheer.

Shy Little Finn is now strong and brave in John and Jennifer Churchover's lastest lamb story, Brave Little Finn (Sweet Pea & Friends) (Little, Brown and Company, 2016). The authors capture the truth of how really formidable it is to face the big world, whether you are a little lamb or a small child, and restate the truism that even with lots of love, you still have to do most of the work for yourself. John Churchman's homemade photographs from his farm bring out all the too-cute-for-words charm of his little lambs and the robust devotion of his shepherd dogs in this sweet story of a shy lamb's coming of age. This one will be resonant with young children who face their own mountains to climb as they grow.

John and Jennifer Churchman's other tales of life on the sheep ranch include The SheepOver (Sweet Pea & Friends) (read review here) and A Farm for Maisie (Sweet Pea & Friends).

GOT-TA Dance! Dance by Matthew Van Fleet

A teeny-tiny baby chick goes to the dance hall to get some kicks. He's got his snappy blue bowtie and he's got those hap-hap-happy feet, but he doesn't know how to use them.

"WELL, CHICKIE BABY," SAID THE RHINO AT THE DOOR.

"HOW ABOUT WE SHAKE SOME TAIL FEATHERS OUT ON THE FLOOR?"

The little chick protests that he's just hatched and has no idea how to do that. "I won't dance... Can't make me!" seems to be his song, but the rhythm-lovin' rhinos drag him out on the floor and then...

Let the lessons begin!

"FIRST THING, CHICKIE BABY, JUST WIGGLE YOUR HIPS.

SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE, SHIMMY SHIMMY, SHAKE!"

The band is swingin' and Bunny and Gator join Rhino and jump right in to teach him the Hippopota Hula, the Bouncy Bunny Hop, and the Gater Mashed Potater. Then Pig and Beaver do their share with demos of the Crazy Piggy Tap and the Busy Beaver Bop.

"CHICKIE BABY, CHICKIE BABY, GET INTO THE GROOVE!

CHICKIE BABY, CHICKIE BABY, LOOK AT HIM MOVE!"

In Matthew Van Fleet's latest interactive board book, Dance (Simon and Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books, 2017), the youngest readers get to get in on the infectious rhythm and rhyme, thanks to the heavy-duty pull tabs that give them control of the shimmy and the shake, the rap and the tappity tap, and the hop and the bop in this toy and movable book. The irresistible rhythm of the shake-it-and-break-it narration are enough to get preschoolers eager to hit the dance floor themselves, but the editors also provide a downloadable song to form the soundtrack for kiddy audience participation. And as all good Broadway musicals do, this one ends in a grand finale--a two-page pop-up which has all the dancers on stage for a show-stopper of closing number.

This new one by the noted author-illustrator Van Fleet joins classic movement books like Sandra Boynton's Barnyard Dance! (Boynton on Board) and makes a fine Easter basket treat, better'n jelly beans, especially when paired with the go-with Dance Chickie Baby Doll plush toy.

Other interactive board books by Van Fleet include Fuzzy Yellow Ducklings, Heads, and Tails.

Field Trip! A Day at the Farm by Severine Cordier

WELCOME TO THE FARM!

Three kids don their mud boots and jackets and climb into the family car for a trip to the country. It seems a long, are-we-there-yet ride, but it is worth the wait, as they arrive to find the farm lady holding a brown rabbit for them to pet while a curious cat and brown hen greet the newcomers.

Near the farmhouse they stop by to feed the ducks and the animals that share the pond--a dragonfly, toad, tadpole, and fish--and see the hen and drake with their ducklings. A quick visit to the henhouse gives the kids a chance to scatter some grain for the hens, rooster, and chicks and gather a basket of eggs.

Next there's a stop at the garden with its many veggies and herbs to gather and garden tools to try out before they have a hands-on visit at the rabbit hutch, the orchard where they pick apples, and a stop for an al fresco lunch and a chance to build an impromptu playground with some handy hay bales. An after-lunch stop at the bee hives yields a sweet treat of honey, but the pigsty smells yucky, and the grumpy billy goat in the meadow gives them pause. Soon, though, a pony ride and a friendly donkey revive their smiles, and a stop at the sheep shed comes just before the most exciting part of the visit--a chance to take turns steering the tractor.  Soon it's time to head for home--but not before they load up with jars of honey and some fruits and veggies to take back as mementos.

Severine Cordier's latest in this cozy series, A Day at the Farm (Owlkids, 2013) offers the familiar trio of siblings on a family field trip to the farm. Artist Cynthia LaCroix's charming children's adventures are accompanied by full-bleed picture pages showing tools, produce, and products related to the farm, from water lilies in the pond to sunflowers and oats in the fields. Objects are labelled for the beginning reader, and plenty of visual cues make the brief text easy for emergent readers to sound out.

An easy-going introduction for families or preschoolers to those favorite field trips to the farm, this book joins Cordier's earlier day books, Picture My Day and Picture My World, (see full reviews here and here) all of which can serve as simple stories of daily doings or as beginning picture dictionaries for vocabulary building. Now, if only illustrator LaCroix had chosen to picture that cute farm cat and tres charmante chicken shadowing the kids through the pages as their home kitty did so well in the first book!