A DAY AT THE FARM

Three cute Caucasian kids pull on their brightly colored rain boots and head to the car for a trip to the farm with Mom and Dad.

As well as identifying all the buildings and different parts of the farm, the kids get to hang out with the animals, feeding ducks and chickens, collecting eggs, picking tomatoes, milking the cow, picking fruit, petting a donkey, playing in the hay, driving a tractor and stopping for a relaxing country picnic. The brightly colored pages illustrating their inevitable adventures (stepping in the muck; being chased by a goat) are interspersed with cleanly drawn vocabulary pages showing pond animals and plants, fruits, vegetables, crops and farm machinery. Neatly done, although not outstanding among the vast number of picture books with similar intent, this picture book feels a bit like paint by numbers, and some parents may be prone to an extra yawn or two at bedtime. However, the flat, bright colors and clear, readable text will be attractive to the very young. Parents and children will like the board book’s rounded corners. Folks in rural areas should be aware that one picture shows a child sitting on an untacked pony’s back.

This farm book doesn’t make it to the top of the haystack.