FUN ON THE FARM

Six pop-up spreads display the over-the-top antics of a bunch of anthropomorphic barnyard animals.

A shades-wearing rooster in a roadster poses for the paparazzi. Three pigs relax with Pampered Pigs Weekly in a hot tub. In a scene reminiscent of the folk-song hero Bill Grogan, a flock of goats “munch” clothes right off a clothesline. A fashionista lamb models purple fleece with matching accessories. Two horses tango on ice skates, and singing cows suggest that readers “warble or hum, / bang a cymbal or drum” while sheep and ducks dance along. These improbable talents are announced in four-line rhyming stanzas. The silliness may amuse adults who are bored with the usual farm-animal fare, but the jokes will go right over the heads of toddlers. A simultaneously publishing second title in the Peekaboo Pop-Up Fun series is more focused. In Snuggle Tight, Kiss Good Night, by Danielle McLean and illustrated by Denise Hughes, seven (single) animal parents prepare their babies for bed with gentle, age-appropriate rhyming couplets. The animal pairs really do pop against muted nighttime nature scenes. The most intriguing features of both books are the pop-out portions that highlight the main character of each verse. However, the pop-outs go flat if the book is opened wide, and little fingers may quickly grab and tear the pop-out portions.

Not enough pop for the price.