OLD MACDONALD'S THINGS THAT GO

Turns out there’s more than a moo-moo here and a moo-moo there on Old MacDonald’s farm.

“Old MacDonald had a farm. / He loved things that go!” In fact, his garage, boathouse, and hangar (yes) seem to have more occupants than his barn. “And on that farm / he had a bike. / He loved things that go! / With a ding-ding here / and a ding-ding there. / Here a ding, there a ding, / everywhere a ding-ding.” Each vehicle gets its own onomatopoeic stanza. The car “vrooms.” The tractor “chugs.” And the train “choo-choos.” In each double-page spread, Old MacDonald and his gleeful animals make use of a different vehicle, leading up to a tongue-twister–y four-page summation at the close. Clarke’s expansion of the ode to noisy farm beasts that every 2-year-old can sing will have listeners joining in by the second stanza. Young machinery mavens won’t notice the syllabic aerobics needed to shoehorn “combine harvester” (it goes “whir”) and “fire truck” into the rhyme, it’ll just add a giggle or two. Blanco’s digitally created illustrations of joyous white farmer and flock have a bright, sunny retro look that is as inviting and catchy as Clarke’s verse.

A great singalong that proves that Old MacDonald still has new tricks.