Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The final installment of Caldecott Honoree Frazee's Farmer trilogy opens with a theatrical flourish as the young clown who starred in the first story returns to the circus; wearing the farmer's oversize hat, the child rejects the clown costume for a pair of black overalls that mimic the farmer's. (The other clowns, including one who seems to be the child's caretaker, look on in amusement.) Along with the circus monkey centered in the second story, the overall-clad child spends the day playing farmer--raking, juggling eggs, and experimentally milking the circus elephant. When the circus opens the next day, who should turn up but the beloved farmer? The young clown and monkey can barely contain their excitement, and as they launch into a performance, the farmer becomes acquainted with the older parental clown. The farmer's visits become a regular event as Frazee gives the quartet many chances to share their pleasure in being together. As before, Frazee devotes particular attention to the distinctive ways the characters respond to each other and to their expressions of affection, in this celebration of two disparate lifestyles resolving into a single new one. Ages 4--8. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Apr.)
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Review by Horn Book Review
Frazee's wordless trilogy that began with The Farmer and the Clown (rev. 11/14) comes to a satisfying end. The story opens at the circus, where the young clown refuses a red clown suit, preferring instead to wear the farmer's broad hat and carry a rake. When the monkey appears, carrying the farmer's picnic basket, the monkey and young clown "play farm" as they pretend to milk an elephant, dance in the sunrise, and picnic together. The only person missing from the scene is the beloved farmer. But not for long. Across the wide horizon he comes (holding the circus ticket left by the monkey in The Farmer and the Monkey, rev. 11/20). As the story unfolds to its warmhearted conclusion, an adult clown (the young clown's mother, perhaps?) and the farmer are shown settling in at the farm, arms around each other, as they watch the monkey and the little clown pick apples for a picnic. Everything is resolved: loving adults to care for the child and the monkey and an end to loneliness for all. Frazee layers pencil and gouache to create her wide-open sky and an expansive prairie. She adeptly uses series of spot illustrations, surrounded by clean white space, and rich double-page spreads to pace the story. Readers will find little real tension but a great deal of warmth and skilled storytelling as the sun rises on a new, untraditional family. Maeve Visser Knoth July/August 2021 p.77(c) Copyright 2021. 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
Frazee's third installment in her wordless picture-book series is a family affair. Frazee uses the frontmatter to begin her tale as, on the title page, the clown child who met the farmer in the trilogy's first installment is shown rejecting a motherly clown's offering of a clown suit. Instead, the child chooses the farmerlike outfit donned in Book 1 and is wearing it when the monkey protagonist of Book 2 reappears with items from the farmer's abode. It's a happy reunion of monkey and child, whose play evokes their times on the farm. Their joy is eclipsed only by the eventual appearance of the doting farmer, who comes to the circus after the little clown's community of performers raises the big top on the prairie. The real drama takes place outside the tent, however, when romance blooms between the farmer and the clown's mother as they bond over juggling, music, dancing, and pie. At the book's end, the foursome leaves the circus and heads home to the farmer's house, which Frazee depicts bathed in a rosy sunset, the landscape embellished with flowers. It's a happily-ever-after sort of ending, though some readers may be weary of depictions of monkeys as quasi-children, and others may wonder why the farmer didn't join the circus instead of relocating everyone to his home. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8.3-by-20.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 19.3% of actual size.) The circus train stops here after a good run. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
