Review by Booklist Review
Ages 2-4. A farmer's good-morning kiss to his wife sets in motion an amusing chain of events reaching from the kitchen to the barnyard in this lighthearted cumulative tale. All's well that ends well when a donkey's accidental kick opens the gate so that the farmer can enter to milk the patient cow, while an opportunistic cat stands by to catch a stream of milk. Sometimes the causal links in the brief text are thin: the flea's jumping from the dog to the cat is not really a motivation for the cat to chase the mouse. However, once the chase begins, toddlers will be engrossed in the fast-paced story and in trying to spot the perky mouse, which pops up on fences and peers from mounds of straw. Tafuri's delineation of the farmer and his wife is a bit stiff, but the fresh watercolor hues and clear outlines of the graphic style carry the double-page spreads. This diverting romp will be welcome for story hours or for cozy lap-sharing times. ~--Karen Harvey
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Set in generously sized type, a succinct text shapes a sequence of events into a slice of farm life. Tafuri's ( Have You Seen My Duckling? ) large-scale, elegant illustrations dominate the double-page spreads, with figures often overflowing the pictures' colored borders. The story starts out with the farmer, ``who kisses his wife / who pats the dog / that scratches a flea / that lands on a cat'' and so on, until the conclusion, in which the farmer milks the cow and sends a squirt of milk into the waiting cat's mouth. Rendered in watercolor and ink, the artwork is pleasingly detailed: geese waddle through the barnyard, three kittens examine a ladybug and a brown mouse can be found scampering or hiding on all but the first three spreads. Ages 2-up. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-Tafuri has created yet another exceptional book for young children. Simple in concept, the circular story begins with the declaration that ``This is the farmer,'' showing the man putting on his rubber boots and readying himself for some serious work. The chain of events proceeds quietly at first, but gains momentum as the cat spots the mouse. Eventually the mayhem concludes with the donkey's kick, which opens the gate that the farmer-ignorant of the goings-on-walks through. The mouse, once introduced, is hidden on each of the remaining pages, cleverly enough to engage youngsters in the search. Evoking a similar mood to Tafuri's Early Morning in the Barn (Greenwillow, 1983), the well-defined, watercolor-and-ink double-spread illustrations are once again of the highest quality. The brief story is rhythmic, predictable, and printed in extra-large type. The fine artwork, appealing subject matter, readable text, and large format make This Is the Farmer a hot candidate for story times.-Lee Bock, Brown County Public Libraries, Green Bay, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Tafuri traces the series of events a farmer triggers as he heads out to the barn to milk the cow. In each expansive double-page spread, executed in watercolor inks and black pen, the action spills over the borders -- cats pouncing, donkeys kicking, geese rushing by with outstretched wings. The choice of typeface -- bold, black letters an inch high -- complements the brevity of the text. From HORN BOOK 1994, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Just right for toddlers, an appealing book in which each action propels the next, from a farmer kissing his wife, who then pats the dog, to a cat, a mouse, geese, and a donkey ""that kicks the fence/and opens the gate/the farmer walks through/to milk the cow!"" Very large type is balanced by closeups of animals extending beyond their frames while others -- including some not mentioned -- are tucked into backgrounds depicting a tidy old-fashioned farm. In the last spread, the cat gets a welcome squirt of milk direct from the cow while her kittens crowd around and the mouse hides safely in the hay: Simple as they appear, there's a lot to discover and discuss in these expansive, beautifully observed illustrations. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
