On the Farm

Illustrator: Holly Meade
ISBN: 9780763633226
Format: Hardcover
Pub. Date: March 2008
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Age Range: 3 to 6

From the bull to the barn cat to the wild bunny, the farmyard bustles with life. The rooster crows, the rams clash, the bees buzz, and over there in the garden, a snake -- silent and alone -- winds and watches. David Elliott’s graceful, simple verse and Holly Meade’s exquisite woodcut and watercolor illustrations capture a world that is at once timeless yet disappearing from view -- the world of the family farm.

AWARDS & ACCOLADES
"A series of brief, often funny poems catch the personalities of farm animals. . . . From an alluring cover with a rooster in full crow to its concluding, gently ironic ode to the silence of rabbits, this book will make an unusually interesting choice for farm-animal storytimes.” --Starred Review, The Horn Book

"Elliott and Meade have crafted a picture book well worth adding to any size library collection." --School Library Journal

"Energetic woodcuts accompany playfully simple poems as they give young readers an engaging tour of the barnyard...Farmyard books are a dime a dozen, but this one is a worthwhile addition, for those poems that reach beyond the ordinary and for the good-natured illustrations that complement them." --Kirkus Reviews

"Caldecott Honor illustrator Meade respects the spare power of Elliott’s contributions with judiciously textured images that never anthropomorphize and yet, like the poems, imply glimmers of innate character. From toddlers to the youngest poets, children will delight in the fun and beauty on display here, while adults will soak in the nostalgia embodied in the tranquil, pastoral scenes." -Booklist

"Meade's big, bold woodcut prints are the attention-grabbers, but Elliott's little verses pack a deceptive punch." -Washington Post

- Raising Reader Selection 2009

SOMETHING YOU DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS BOOK
Here’s a verse that didn’t make it into print. That happens sometimes.

The Robin
sings from her branch
but wants to roar -
small cousin of tyrannosaur.