The Farmer’s Away! BAA! NEIGH! by Anne Vittur Kennedy (review)

The title is all the verbal explanation one gets in this story of farm animals partying down, their rhyming exclamations the only text, after the farmer heads off to the fields on his tractor. Each sound correlates to a particular animal (the mama pig cries “oink” while the piglets cry “ree”); a picture “glossary” depicting each animal next to its sound appears on the book’s endpages for extra support. The storyline is simple and easy to follow, and the text (“Neigh neigh baa baa quack quack tweet/arf oink ree ree cluck cluck cheep!” cry the critters as the farmer heads off) rejoices in its own verbal musicality. The animals revel in anthropomorphic pleasures such as having a picnic, riding a roller coaster, and dressing up and dancing as the sun goes down, only to make a mad dash for the pasture when the farmer returns. The only indication the tired farmer gets that something unusual has happened is the last-minute appearance of a dress-wearing mouse crying “eek!” as she rushes past. The rhythmic animal sounds pair pleasingly with the detailed and amusing colored pencil and acrylic illustrations, and kids will appreciate the opportunity to make one-to-one connections between the animal sounds and the animals. This would be an energetic choral reading selection, and the limited vocabulary puts it within reach of beginning solo readers as well; share along with LaRochelle’s Moo (BCCB 11/13) for a barnyard full of farm animal fun.