Happy Little Farm

Happy Little Farm can become a very noisy board book because every time young readers see a symbol of a tractor or one or more of nine different farm animals at the end of a passage of text, they are to find the corresponding symbol(s) on the “sound pad” and press it/them to create the appropriate sound(s). As the story unfolds, an anthropomorphic-appearing Tractor approaches, in turn, Pig, Duck, Dog, Rooster & Hen & their Chicks, Cat, Horse, and finally Cow.

The book’s text has a pattern to it which, upon repeated readings, would invite youngsters to join in. As the Excerpt demonstrates, Tractor asks each animal why it is happily doing something, and the animal then provides a response. As Tractor leaves the animal, his farewell includes another “Happy” plus what was making the animal happy. In the closing spread, “As the sun sets over the farm, the animals stop by the barn before the happy little tractor tucks himself in for the night.” In turn, each of the animals thanks Tractor for how he has specifically contributed to their happiness. In the book’s final lines, Pig turns the tables on Tractor by asking, “Why are you smiling happily, Tractor?”, and Tractor replies, “Because I get to spend my days helping all my friends on this happy little farm.” And, of course, youngsters get one more opportunity to press the tractor button.

Doyle’s bright, cartoon style illustrations are the right choice for this book, with each focal animal being front and centre on the page. Doyle also includes a lot of details that the adult reader can bring to the attention of young readers during later readings (perhaps when the urge to push the sound buttons has waned somewhat.). In addition to children being able to connect sounds to specific animals, the book’s text and illustrations will add to youngsters’ vocabulary, with words like “trough”, “coop” and “saddle”. The illustrations include things that are not mentioned in the text, and so an adult could, for example, point out a “silo”, “barn”, “sheep”. “corn” and “sunflowers”, thereby also increasing their child’s vocabulary. The activity of pressing the buttons contributes to children’s manual dexterity while developing their matching skills.

Though Happy Little Farm is not a must-buy book, it, nevertheless, has a fun place in home collections and libraries serving this audience age.