In the early, early morning, while the sky is still dark, the moon glowing on the snow, and shades of pre-dawn purple everywhere, a parent wakes their child and they slip out to the barn. Although it's early, all the inhabitants of the barn are awake, from the horse, mule, and cats to the cows, to the uninvited barn occupants like a stray raccoon. Later, back in the house, the child asks to join their parent for a night feeding and sees something wonderful - their horse Eleanor has given birth to a foal.
The story is told in lilting rhymes, with a few specific vocabulary words like "steer" sprinkled throughout and evocative descriptions of the sights and smells of an old-fashioned barn during chores in the winter. The illustrations are softly blurred, giving the whole book a sleepy, night-time feel as the two leisurely take care of the chores and participate in the peace of a barn at night. Cats slink and slide through the pictures, their soft outlines popping up in the hayloft, by the milk, and along railings.
This is a nice bedtime book that introduces readers to one type of farm. There are farms (and barns) like this around where I live, but any family running this small of an operation either has multiple other jobs or this is just a sideline to something else, like the production of soybeans or feed corn. It's not really what I'd consider an accurate representation of modern farming, or even family farms, but it's a nice bedtime barn story.
Verdict: This will be popular with most of my audience; depending on your community, reception may differ. If your readers aren't already somewhat familiar with small farms, I'd go with Phyllis Alsdurf's It's Milking Time, which is more detailed, or one of the nonfiction titles from Lerner. An additional purchase where farming books are popular.
ISBN: 9781948898058; Published September 2021 by Feeding Minds Press; Review copy provided by publisher
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