Root’s lush watercolors accompany debut author Roger’s peaceful story of an old-fashioned barn. Each spread is features a litany of poetic text, starting with the refrain “I am a barn” and going on to describe the animals, inside and out, who call the barn and its environs home. All the familiar aspects of classic Americana are here, from the black and white cows in straw-filled wooden stalls to the swallows overhead and the coyotes lurking in the brush.
There’s nothing ground-breaking about this story, and the somewhat lengthy text makes it less than ideal for a storytime, but for patient listeners it would be a lovely bedtime story. Its main appeal is to those who are nostalgic about the agricultural past, so audiences in farming communities or those that prefer lengthier picture books with a “classic” feel to them are most likely to enjoy this.
Verdict: While this is an additional purchase for most libraries, communities like mine that include a large audience for farm nostalgia will delight in this gentle, sleepy story and the slow cadence of the text will send some little ones off to dreamland.
1 comment:
This does look like something I would like, but I can see how not everyone would enjoy it. The picture reminded me of my grandmother's farm, so thanks for posting it. Looking at it gave me a pleasant moment.
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