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.

Pet's Choice! All Pets Allowed (Blackberry Farm 2) by Adele Griffin

The date is October 10, 10/10! Twins Becket Branch and her brother Nicholas Branch are about to celebrate their birthday, the big Ten-O, their first birthday at Blackberry Farm.

"THAT'S SOME UNBEATABLE, UNREPEATABLE BIRTHDAY LUCK AND WE'VE JUST GOT TO MAKE THE MOST OF IT!" SAYS THE EBULLIENT BECKET.

While his sister Becket plans another spectacular birthday bash, Nicholas, the introvert, would prefer a Mellow 'Cello playlist and definitely no ball games or sparklers in the cake this year, thank you! But although he seems to be anticipating all the ways parties can go wrong, especially with guest Travis and his SuperSquid Squirty on the guest list, he kindly goes along with his twin's plan to invite the whole class.

But the other good news about this birthday is that their parents have told them that they can adopt a new pet from the Rescue Center. Becket wants a lively dog, but Nicholas favors a nice quiet cat. But Mom and Dad have a solution: They can pick one of each!

Outside the pet shelter, Becket runs in happy circles, panting and chanting...

"DOG! DOG! DOG!"

Nicholas whispers quietly to no one in particular...

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. A CAT! FOR ME!"

The twins go home with their new pets in their new carriers, Becket seeing herself romping with the dog she names Dibs, while Nicholas is dreaming of quiet evenings with Given the cat calmly curled up and snoozing to the soft sounds of Mellow Cello playing in his room.

SURPRISE!

Things are not always what they seem. Fate has determined that Dibs the dog is a Fraidy Cat, who can't let Becket out of his sight without howling: he quivers when he hears Dad's big voice, and hides his head when Becket's friend tries to take a snapshot of her new pet. Meanwhile, Nicholas discovers that Given is a photogenic and extroverted feline, posing happily for Becket's friend who uses the pictures as advertisements for the school carnival. When Becket searches for her twin, she finds him secretly hiding with a pillow and book in the bathtub with Dibs quietly sleeping beside him.

NICHOLAS SIGHS. "THERE'S TOO MUCH FUSS AROUND GIVEN. TRAVIS HAD EVEN SAID, 'MY CAT IS TOO COOL FOR ME!'"

"HE'S RIGHT. I THINK GIVEN IS BRAVE AND FUN. THE TROUBLE IS, I THOUGHT MY VERY OWN CAT WOULD BELONG TO ME. BUT GIVEN THRIVES ON BEING WITH LOTS OF PEOPLE."

"WELL," BECKET ADMITTED, "DIBS DOESN'T WANT TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH ANYONE. HE'S SHY AND HARD TO TRAIN, TOO!"

The mismatch is obvious. The twins are afraid that they have made the wrong pet choices. But when both of the pets disappear, the twins discover them safely watching over each other and realize that perhaps between them and their two pets, together they have a perfect match after all, in Adele Griffin's latest Blackberry Farm story, All Pets Allowed: Blackberry Farm 2, illustrated lovingly by Caldecott artist LeUyen Pham, (Workman/Algonquin Books, 2021). In this second book in their series, one that celebrates what Beverly Cleary's Ramona Quimby called "a good, sticking-together family," middle readers see differences resolve into an advantage for all. As the Branch family says, "Many Branches, one tree!"

Adele Griffen and LeUyen Pham's first collaboration in this series is The Becket List: A Blackberry Farm Story.

Farm Musicale: Cock-a-doodle-do, Creak, Pop-Pop, Moo by Jim Aylesworth

Who needs a band, when you have a constant concerto in progress!

ROOSTER CROWS

COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO

WAKE UP GIRLS, AND LITTLE BOYS, TOO!

It's a semi-rhythmical rehearsal as the kids clatter downstairs, with the frying ham in the skillet providing the percussion--POP POP! From the milking shed, a quartet of milk cows moo a melody. CLUCK go the laying hens looking to be fed. Sparrows peep and baby chicks cheep. Breakfast utensils clank and clink.

The day bring work and very little play, but you can always make music any day..

Pups yip; bees buzz. CAW! complains the crow, as the boys chop wood. Cow bells clink as they slowly let the crickets' chirp call them to line up to return to the barn again, as Ma and Pa rest and rock to the squeak of the porch rockers. Granma's needles click with the beat as the big old clock ticks.

CROW CALLS OUT, HOO HOO, HOO HOO!

GOOD NIGHT, BOYS... AND LITTLE GIRLS, TOO!

And every night on the farm is a nocturne, in Jim Aylesworth's fantasia of farm life, Cock-a-doodle-doo, Creak, Pop-pop, Moo. Every player performs his part in a symphony of sound, and artist Brad Sneed adds his charming illustrations to the performance to make perfect harmony of life.  For class animal sound fun or perhaps for a  soothing bedtime scherzo.

Missing Person Mission: Duck Duck Moose by Mary Sullivan

It's a serene morning on the farm until as frantic girl races up with a disturbing query--

WHERE IS GOOSE?

Oh, dear! Moose takes charge! The tractor is still attached to its trailer, perfect for a missing person search...

GET BIG MOE!

Big Moe is cranked with amid some clunks and pows as Duck and Duck and Moose climb into the trailer and the girl takes the wheel, all with one mission, to find Goose immediately. Bucolic bystanders, Horse and Sheep, point the way they saw Goose go. But soon there's an obstacle--the gate is locked and the key is hanging on the tree, way up there. Leaps and flapping attempts to reach it fail, so Moose tries a totem pole arrangement, with the two ducks on top of each other on top of his head. The top duck stretches high into the tree and ...

BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ!

A swarm of hornets bring them all crashing down in the mud.

THONK! WHACK! STING! STANG! STUNG!

Mission aborted. After soaking in a bubbly bath, the three call it a day, and plastered with bandaids, Goose, Goose, and Moose repair to bed, still sad and without the mysteriously missing Goose.

The Caldecott-winning author-illustrator Mary Sullivan's latest, Duck, Duck, Moose (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021) is a beginning reader full of merry mayhem with onomatopoeic words and obvious affection for the muddled characters' missing friend (who, in the conclusion, shows up with beach bag, surfboard, and a mystified expression at her reception). With controlled vocabulary, visual cues, and plenty of repeated words and phrases, this slapstick story is filled with action and humor, perfect for early readers.

Sullivan's literary output is filled with delightfully humorous picture books that charm young listeners as readalongs, readalouds, or beginning readers: Ball, Treat, Up On Bob, Frankie, and Nobody's Duck. (See reviews here).

Easter Egg Hunt! The Easter Surprise (Sweet Pea and Friends) by John and Jennifer Churchman

Sweet Pea the sheep had promised Fern a surprise today.

Fern the Bunny is curious. She heads for the barn, but on the way she hears two squirrels chattering. What is going on?

"I didn't put it there, did you?" one squirrel says.

Fern sees it, a beautiful painted egg. But it doesn't have stripes or polka dots. It has a lovely little miniature painting of Mo the Kitten right in the middle. Fern hurries to show it to Mo. But Mo has something to show, too!

"Look what I found! " Mo says.

He has found an egg painted with a picture of Keeper, the goose. It's a mystery, and Fern and Mo are on the case!

One thing leads to another! Following the trail, they find that Keeper has found an egg that leads them to Maisie the sheepdog and then to Little Finn the lamb who has an egg with a painting of the rooster on it. Another clue! They dash to the chicken house. The detectives soon have a basket full of beautiful eggs, but the chickens say they know nothing. Who could have left them?

John and Jennifer Churchman's latest in their series about the animals on their Vermont far, The Easter Surprise (Sweet Pea & Friends) (Little, Brown and Company, 2019) lets youngsters join in the fun of an idyllic old fashioned egg hunt, with tall grasses and clumps of wild flowers concealing the not-too-well hidden eggs, real eggs colored by someone who is happy to watch the youngsters find the eggs one by one. John and Jennifer Churchman provide the soft watercolor illustrations combined with photos of their own farm animals in a lovely story of an old-fashioned Easter egg hunt which will encourage sharp-eyed youngsters to help with the search.

John and Jennifer Churchman's popular series began with The SheepOver (Sweet Pea & Friends) (see reviews here).

The Case of the Purloined Pumpkins: Flat Stanley and the Missing Pumpkins by Jeff Brown and Lori Haskins Houran

Flat Stanley is off with Dad and his little brother Arthur for fall break visiting his Uncle Bob and Aunt Sue's farm. Both boys are excited, but it's a long ride and a bit of a squeeze in the backseat.

"Ow! Your flat elbow is so pointy!" said Arthur.

"Sorry," said Flat Stanley. He folded himself up like a taco.

Finally they arrive and Stanley unfolds himself from back seat. Instantly Aunt Sue is on his case.

Aunt Sue is always baking pies to fatten him up.

"I'm flat, not skinny," says Stanley.

But Uncle Bob has some jobs Flat Stanley is perfectly suited for. While Arthur and Billy dash off to play, Uncle Bob and Stanley take care of some farm chores. Stanley's flat hands easily slip between the hens and their nests to collect the eggs without the hens even noticing, and when Uncle Bob needs to unload hay bales from his truck, Stanley makes himself into a perfect ramp to roll them down. They're done way before supper.

"You're good help," says Uncle Bob.

"But you're still too thin," says Aunt Sue. "Have another piece of pie!"

But after supper Uncle Bob needs more help from Stanley. He takes him to his pumpkin patch. Stanley is impressed and asks his uncle if he is planning to enter his perfect pumpkins in the Fall Fair.

"Oh! Gosh, no," says the super modest Bob. "I never show my pumpkins. "

But Uncle Bob has a pumpkin problem. Someone is swiping a few pumpkins every night. He's staked out the patch himself, but the thieves seem to wait until after he leaves to catch a few winks of sleep. He jokes that his scarecrow isn't up to the overnight job. But when he notices that the scarecrow has pointy elbows just like Stanley's, Uncle Bob asks him to dress as the scarecrow and keep watch until the pumpkin snatchers put in an appearance. Stanley agrees bravely, but being a scarecrow has its complications.

Stanley stood still in the moonlight. trying not to scratch.

His sleeves and shoulders were stuffed with straw!

After quite a while, Stanley hears some voices--familiar voices, very familiar voices.

It sounds like Billy, and ...Arthur? Why would Billy swipe his own dad's pumpkins?

A mystery that ends with blue ribbons for Uncle Bob and a big slab of prize-winning pumpkin pie for Stanley is a win-win conclusion, in Lori Haskins Houran's latest I-Can-Read Flat Stanley story, Flat Stanley and the Missing Pumpkins (I Can Read Level 2) (Harper, 2017). Since 1964, when Jeff Brown published the first of Flat Stanley's adventures (in which he is flattened by a bulletin board), Stanley's traveling adventures have long been popular fare for young independent readers, and this one is just made for solo reading for primary students. Comic artist Macky Pamintuan does a good job of adapting the traditional Stanley to this series of easy reading stories for youngsters, just right for October and November occasions.

Share this pumpkin tale with Houran's Flat Stanley and the Haunted House (I Can Read!, Level 2) for a pair of fall treats.

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.

The Accidental Country Girl: Little Ree by Ree Drummond

Hi, I am Ree.

A long time ago, I used to live in a city

But I don't live there anymore.

Ree Drummond, the country cook known far and wide as "the Pioneer Woman," and also as the author of those popular Charlie the Ranch Dog books, wasn't born and bred a country girl. No sirree! Here's the story:

Today I moved to an old red house on my Grandpa and Grandma's ranch. They needed a little help, and I am just the girl for the job.

Bravely, little Ree says goodbye to all her friends and packs up her roller skates, Teddy bear, and keyboard. But despite her confident air, Ree's first day on the farm is not exactly fantastic. She finds that she's swapped her frilly pink bedroom for something that looks more like a cowpoke bunkhouse. She has a hard time sleeping, what with all the coyotes howling and the crickets chirping outside all night.

The country sure is noisy!

And then she has her first experience in getting up before the sun, and she's still half asleep when she meets her cowhorse, Pepper, who refuses to go where she wants him to go. And when it's time to feed the stock, Ree finds out that hay bales are way on the heavy side!

Maybe I'm not cut out to be a country girl.

But fortified with a hearty country pancake breakfast, Ree tackles lessons in the rest of the chores--tractor-driving, roping and riding the fences, and still more bales of hay to handle. She even has to haul her little brother out of the muddy farm pond. But Ree plugs on bravely, hoping to please Grandpa and not embarrass herself in front of her country cousins, coming for an outdoor barbeque that night.

But as we all know, little Ree makes the transition, with the help of her family. And in Ree Drummond's little memoir of that transition, Little Ree (Harper, 2017), she's clearly on her way to her adult career:

My cousins are the best!

I think the country girl thing just might work out!

Moving is hard for children, and Drummond's story of her own fortuitous move from city to country life is an upbeat story of how it's done, with the equally exuberant illustrations of artist Jacqueline Rogers to highlight the comic aspects of cowgirl training. For more stories of life on the grownup cowgirl's ranch, see Drummond's other picture books, including Charlie Plays Ball (Charlie the Ranch Dog), Charlie and the New Baby (Charlie the Ranch Dog) and Charlie Goes to School (Charlie the Ranch Dog). (see reviews here)

First Responder on the Farm! Otis And the Kittens by Loren Long

IT WAS HOT AND DRY ON THE FARM.

OTIS COULDN'T REMEMBER THE LAST TIME IT HAD RAINED.

It is a sun-baked fall in farm country, and Otis the tractor has done his part to bring the last bales of hay to the barn. Water is too low in the creek for the animals to cool off in, and it's too hot to enjoy the sunny days of early fall, but in the early evening, Otis can't resist the Bull's snorts that invite him to play tug-of-war with their friends.

One day Otis is keeping cool with the other animals under his apple tree when he spots something new.

IT LOOKS TO BE A TABBY CAT! WHERE DID SHE COME FROM?

OTIS WATCHED AS SHE RAN TOWARD THE OLD BARN.

AND THEN HE SAW SOMETHING THAT CAUSED HIS ENGINE TO SPUTTER... A SWIRL OF SMOKE!!

Instantly he sees the danger--a fire in the old barn filled with very dry bales of hay! With a huff and a chuff, Otis charges into the barn, where he sees the tabby cat in the loft with a litter of four little kittens, meowing for help. Otis entices the kittens down, and with them clinging to hi chassis, he takes them outside to safety. But the mother cat turns and rushes, meowing frantically, back into the flaming barn.

OTIS WAS AFRAID, BUT HE DASHED BACK INTO THE BURNING BARN.

THE LAST KITTEN'S HEAD POPPED UP, TREMBLING FROM FEAR.

Gently Otis coaxes the mother and kitten down and out of the barn, but as he starts out himself, the floor collapses under him. Fire Chief Douglas has arrived with his firetruck, but there is not enough water to put out the fire. How can Otis be saved?

It's Otis' friend the big Bull and his tug-of-war team to the rescue, and all's well that ends well for the doughty little tractor, in Loren Long's Otis and The Kittens (Philomel Books, 2016). There's plenty of suspense in Long's latest Otis adventure, with a happy story which celebrates courage and loyalty in exciting language that will please picture book fans of this happy little farm helper. Long's pencil and gouache illustrations are as pleasing as always, with skilled use of perspective and composition that makes this one a first-rate read aloud choice. For more fall farm fare, pair it with Loren Long's excellent Otis and the Scarecrow (see review here).

CHIMNEY HAZARD! Click, Clack, Ho! Ho! Ho! by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin

SNOW IS FALLING.

LIGHTS TWINKLE.

A FEW CREATURES ARE STIRRING.

IT'S CHRISTMAS EVE.

And there's a portentious jingle in the air over at the old Brown place. Farmer Brown is hanging stockings--labeled SHEEP, one COWS, PIGS, CHICKENS, and even one for MICE. The halls are decked and the mice are pleased as they peep from their holes, miming a shhhhhhhh! to Mr. Brown.

Duck, disguised as a lineman for the county, is high atop a utility pole, tool belt and all, watching for a certain airborne visitor, and at the sounding of jingling bells, he shoots down a zipline to Farmer Brown's snow-topped chimney. Donning his handy night vision goggles, he surveys the sky and spots a sleigh approaching in the distance.

HO! HO! HO!

Duck ducks down the chimney, taking the the short route to alert Farmer Brown. But...

UH-OH!

Duck is STUCK!

This is embarrassing! Santa's sleigh and reindeer are silhouetted against the full moon, and the watching farm animals roll into action.

THE COWS COME UP TO UNSTICK DUCK.

HO! HO! HO!

UH-OH!

This is an emergency! The pigs give it a try, but they lodge in the chimney. The chickens, goats, cat, dog, and mice come to help, but they all wind up stuck in the now over-stuffed smokestack!

OH, NO!

This is a job for a professional! Santa Claus never gets stuck in chimneys, and in clouds of soot, Duck and his pals pop out of Farmer Brown's chimney just ahead of St. Nick, in Doreen Cronin's jolly tale of Farmer Brown's chimney, Click, Clack, Ho! Ho! Ho! (Atheneum Books, 2015). Betsy Lewin's classic comic farm animals are a holiday gift in themselves, Duck in Santa hat and night-sight glasses, with similarly attired keyboarding chickens following suit, are just silly enough to have young readers in stitches, and Farmer Brown, relaxing in his long, red, fur-trimmed dressing gown throwing up the window sash to see Santa's approach, provides just the right touch of merry measure for pre-Christmas Eve reading.

"Cronin and Lewin make this slapstick story all their own, leaving readers... with a big dose of holiday cheer," says School Library Journal.

Point of View: Big Bug by Henry Cole

Who is big? How big is big?

It's all relative in Henry Cole's little essay on perspective in his newest, Big Bug (Little Simon Books, 2014).

Cole begins with a zoomed-in view of part of that popular polka-dotted bug, the ladybug. She looks enormous. But zoom out a little and she's quite small, dwarfed by the intricately veined, bright-green leaf upon which she sits.

But wait! There's more!

Zoom out further and the leaf looks sort of small on its big many-petaled daisy, and our ladybug is but a dot. But what is the daisy, compared to the big dog snoring beside the little flower?

With each page turn, Cole dramatically widens his lens. The dog is not so big next to a huge cow. Cows are really huge, right?

But on the next page Cole provides an even wider view, continuing to widen his view until his eye in the sky shows the whole farm in its proper perspective, large fenced fields, big barn, smaller farmhouse, even smaller cow, and tiny flower. The ladybug has shrunk out of sight! Oh, no!

But in a reassuring return to the micro view, Cole reverses his perspective and zooms back down to show his dog, taking a little nap, with the ladybug snug in her own world.

Notable artist Henry Cole seems to prefer farm settings for his humorous illustrations, but this one offers more than just funny pigs and chickens. It is itself a little lesson in relative size, perspective in mental concept as well as in drawing, narrated with words which teach the concept of size. Seeing the world from above is also a necessary mental concept toward understanding mapping, and this seemingly simple little book offers more than its cheery farm setting. Cole even sets the text within endpapers which reinforce his premise. The opening endpapers feature dozens and dozens of tiny ladybugs, while the ending papers show the now familiar black circle within its red carapace. This one is a mind-opening concept book for tots and an easy introduction to reading for the early emergent reader.

Twister Time: Otis and the Tornado by Loren Long

LIFE WAS CALM ON THE FARM WHERE THE FRIENDLY LITTLE TRACTOR NAMED OTIS LIVED.

IT WAS SUMMER. THE SUN SHINED BRIGHT, THE BIRDS CHIRPED, AND AFTER ALL THE WORK WAS DONE, OTIS AND HIS FRIEND THE LITTLE CALF LIKED TO PLAY.

It is a pastoral paradise for Otis. He loves to do his daily work, and when quitting time on the farm comes around each afternoon, he and his friend chase each other around the meadow to the sound of Otis' cozy putt, puffety chuff. And when the two tire of play, they just sit quietly under a shady tree on the hillside overlooking Mud Pond. Little Calf is his best friend, but Otis is friends with all the farm animals and everyone gets along happily.

All except for one--the huge bull over the hill.

THE BULL WAS NOBODY'S FRIEND.

HE WAS KEPT IN A PEN IN A PASTURE ALL BY HIMSELF.

Snorting and snarling and trampling the field daisies beneath his feet, the bull is the bully of the farm, and none of the animals even venture near his pen. Even gentle Otis' friendly gestures are met with flared nostrils and a riveting roar, so frightful that even the gregarious Otis decides to give him a wide berth.

Then one day dark clouds roll in from the west, obscuring the summer sun, and Otis knows something is very wrong.

THERE WAS SOMETHING DIFFERENT ABOUT THE FARM THAT OTIS COULD FEEL IN HIS PIPES.

IT WAS COMPLETELY STILL. THE ONLY SOUND OTIS HEARD
WAS THE FARMER SHOUTING, "IT'S A TORNADO! IT'S COMING FAST! GET DOWN IN THE CELLAR!"

There's no time for the farmer's family to get the livestock to safety, but Otis knows just what to do. Quickly he unlatches the pasture gate and herds all his friends, even the geese, over the hill, past Mud Pond, and down under the banks of Mud Creek, the lowest part of the whole farm where they can be safe. Otis chuffs a sign of relief. Everyone is saved.

But, no! Otis hears a plaintive roar. It's the bull, still locked in his pen right out in the open, and even his strength can't break that sturdy gate. Otis knows that he is the only one who can help, the only one with the power to free the bull to find shelter with the rest of the animals.

It's a cliffhanger as Otis races through the approaching storm, flattens the gate with his powerful reverse gear, and frees his former foe.

OTIS SHOOK HIMSELF, GAVE THE BULL A FRIENDLY CHUFF, AND PEELED OUT.

THE TORNADO ROARED LIKE A FREIGHT TRAIN. OTIS AND THE BULL DIVED FOR COVER INTO MUD CREEK.

THE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN, NARROWLY MISSING THEM ALL.

It's Otis the hero once more in Loren Long's latest tractor tale, Otis and the Tornado (Philomel, 2011). As in his 2009 best-seller, Otis, his text and retro-style illustrations evoke the nostalgic mood of such anthropomorphic mechanical heroes as Hardie Gramatky's Little Toot and Virginia Lee Burton's Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, proving that this cozy, comforting story with all its stormy suspense has the right stuff to reassure modern kids that the powers that be are there to take care of things when the going gets rough. The evergreen story of the machine imbued with the virtues of the human heart--empathy and courage--is still a good one to hear, then and now.

Coffee, Tea, or ME? The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson

It's a tidy, picture-perfect farm with a white-whiskered, spotlessly-overalled farmer who seems to have it all under control. His fences are mended; his barn is freshly painted, and his animals are plump and happy:

HAY FOR HORSES, YES, INDEED!
GIVE THE CHICKENS CHICKEN FEED.

WHEN FARMER FEEDS THE HOGS THEIR SLOP,
THEY LOVE TO EAT THAT GLUEY GLOP.

BUT COW WOULD NEVER EAT THAT STUFF.
YOU COULDN'T PAY THE COW ENOUGH.

BECAUSE... COW LOVES COOKIES!

Yep, Cow seems to have a thing for cookies, and she's not above filching one from the baby's high chair tray, snitching a few from the cookie jar conveniently located on the counter by the open window, and even purloining half the box right out of a grocery sack in Farmer's car trunk. And yet Farmer seems not to mind Cow's peculiar cookie kleptomania. Could it be that they have a deal? Farmer seems to have plenty of cookies, and Cow, well, she has something to bring to the table, too!

FARMER PACKS A PICNIC LUNCH.
AND WHEN THE TWO SIT DOWN TO MUNCH,

HE TAKES THE COOKIES FROM THE TIN
AND COW GIVES MILK TO DUNK THEM IN!

It's definitely a marriage of cookie convenience between the two, and who could blame them? After all, who doesn't like cookies and milk? In Karma Wilson's newest, The Cow Loves Cookies (Margaret K. Elderry Books, 2010), her easily recognizable bouncy rhymes (see her popular Bear Snores On series) carry this light little farm tale forward without a hitch, while Marcellus Hall's wonderful illustrations do most of the heavy lifting. Hall uses simple black-line and watercolors to set off a variety of perspectives, even including a wide-angle aerial shot of the whole farm in the endpapers. The day's wash swings cheerily from the clothesline, a silo and outbuildings stand in the distance, while a little cat follows Farmer and Cow everywhere, knowing that there's going to be a bit of milk for her, too, on the final page. It's a joyful little bucolic visit, just right for preschoolers prepping for their first field trip to a local farm or for kids just getting hungry for a midafternoon snacktime.

Domino Devastation! Don't Slam The Door! by Dori Chaconas

PLEASE DON'T SLAM THE DOOR!
DON'T SLAM THAT OLD SCREEN DOOR!
SLAMMING DOORS WILL WAKE THE CAT.
AND, HEAVENS KNOWS, WE DON'T WANT THAT.

It's a quiet, domestic scene down on the farm. Mama is about to settle down in her favorite chair to knit up some socks for Pa, and only her pig-tailed, overall-clad daughter can foresee the devastation that about to ensue when her pesky pup blasts through the screen door. Everything teeters on the brink of chaos as that door begins to close!

What could happen? Well, that's a story in itself!

PLEASE DON'T WAKE THE CAT!
DON'T WAKE THAT NAUGHTY CAT.
HE'LL PLAY IN MAMA'S KNITTING CHAIR.
HE'LL ROLL THOSE YARN BALLS EVERYWHERE!

And spilled yarn isn't the half of it. Our girl sees what could happen next. And it does!

The cat tangles the yarn into knots and Mama dutifully knits the knots right into Pa's socks. And those bumpy socks make Pa so grumpy, that he kicks the beehive, and the enraged bees sting that grouchy old bear trying to nap in the shade, and the bear charges right into the barn and sends the cows fleeing for the safety of the farmhouse, and....

Well, you get the picture. Our heroine predicts it all, and with the bees and the bear and cows entangled in the yarn and upstairs wrecking Pa's feather bed, she realizes that she's the only one who can end this chain reaction of calamity.

I'M GOING TO COUNT TO FIVE!
I WANT YOU BEES BACK IN THE HIVE!
I WANT YOU, BEAR, TO GO AWAY!
I WANT YOU COWS BACK IN THE HAY!

Order finally restored, our little prognosticator smiles a satisfied smile as that cat settles down to complete her nap, and the heroine flops down into the easy chair:

DON'T EVER SLAM THAT DOOR!
WE'VE BEEN THROUGH THAT BEFORE!
I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!

And in Dori Chaconas' latest, Don't Slam the Door! (Candlewick Press, 2010), illustrator Will Hillenbrand cops the last laugh, when, order restored, just as the troublesome cat begins to doze off, the dog makes another dash through that screen door...

And we know what that means!

Chaconas' catchy couplets capably capture the humor in this witty tale, while Hillenbrand's lively and expressive characters act out our heroine's dire predictions of disaster with elan. An funny and satisfying read-aloud, this story has great possibilities for teaching predicting and cause and effect, concepts with ramifications in life far beyond their use as literary devices, and an extra bonus which makes Don't Slam the Door! more than just another story with a surprise ending.

Ham Heroes: Pigs to the Rescue by John Himmelman

On Monday, the tractor broke down. Farmer Greenstalk couldn't plow the field.

PIGS TO THE RESCUE!!

"Um, thank you. I think," said Farmer Greenstalk.

In the sequel to his hilarious Chickens to the Rescue (Henry Holt, 2006), John Himmelman returns to Greenstalk Acres for a bit of swine slapstick, Pigs to the Rescue (Henry Holt, 2010).

Not to outdone by a flock of paltry poultry, the porkers decide that when the Greenstalks need help, it's time for the ham-hocked heroes to take charge. John Deere broke down? A pig brigade, with shovels and spades dig cornrows so deep only their snouts are above ground. Leak in the missus' garden hose? Hogs hurry in to douse her flower bed with a whole plastic wading pool full of the wet stuff. Little Jeffrey's kite stuck in a tree? A pyramid of porkers pile up to pull it down, shredding the kite in the process. Caleb the Rooster too hoarse to cock-a-doodle-doo in the A.M.? The Greenstalks are treated to a chorus of "GRUNT!" SQUEAL!" "OINK! OINK!" at sunup. All week it's pigs to the rescue, and the folks on the farm come to cringe when any problem arises for fear of a sudden onslaught of swine salvation.

And then on Sunday, Lulu the Cat spills her bowl of milk all over the kitchen floor.

"Shhhhhh!" the Greenstalks said. "Don't let the pigs know." Everyone froze and listened.

"That was close!" said Mrs. Greenstalk. "Thank goodness the pigs didn't find out about this one!"

But John Himmelman gets the last laugh on the Greenstalks. Unnoticed in the corner of the kitchen window, just visible, is the muzzle of a nosy cow. And on the next double-page spread we see a bevy of benefactor bovines, udders swinging as they hustle to the house, hauling milk in a huge washtub, a bowl, a jug, and even a baby bottle.

COWS TO THE RESCUE!

John Himmelman specializes in farmyard humor, and his latest Greenstalk Acres saga is sure to delight young fans of countrified comedy. The text is simple, but the double-page spreads of plump pigs as a devoted emergency rescue squad will keep kids cackling right through the clever surprise ending.