4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Have you ever encountered a time when someone new entered your life? Were you willing to accept this person? Or were you worried of their differences? In Kathleen Geiger’s children’s book, Farmer Beau’s Farm, the reader and/or listener explores this important aspect of life.
Farmer Beau and his wife, Bamma, discover six little kittens one day on their farm. Being loving farm owners, they would have loved to have kept all six, but only one stayed. They decided to name her Kailey Kitten. Kailey is friendly, loving, and playful. When she sees a potential new fur friend, Samantha (Sammy) Bunny, Kailey approaches the newcomer with calmness and intrigue. The two furry animals become fast friends.
Life was great until they heard a new and different animal was to join the farm. Uncertainty filled their every thought. When the new creature arrives, she seems out of place, strange, and overall different. Will this new animal cause Farmer Beau and Bamma ridicule from others? Will the endearing farming couple still love and want Kailey and Sammy?
In this lovely picture book, Geiger explores the theme of acceptance and friendship. Sometimes children, and even adults, have a difficult time accepting someone who is different from them. Here, we have two little furry animals, and they see a giant, long-necked animal. Almost immediately, Kailey and Sammy become fearful of this creature. Giving children a realistic situation in a light-hearted picture book like this provides the opportunity for conversations of acceptance to come along. With acceptance, friendships can easily form. After all, everyone needs a home and everyone has feelings.
I loved everything about this book. The pictures are drawn and presented beautifully. They are large and can be very appealing to young children. The plot flowed nicely from one page to the next with logical order, so it would be quite simple to accomplish a sequencing activity with youngsters. The language is easy to follow, yet introduces some potential new words: “romp”, “tinkering”, “burrowed”, etc. Therefore, a vocabulary lesson can easily be devised. In general, there are several ways to take this book to teach and/or have discussions about the very sensitive topic of differences.
Though I found one place with a missing quotation mark, this was still a wonderful read that, even as an adult, I fully enjoyed and found myself smiling the entire time. I highly recommend this to parents and teachers to read as a read aloud with their children. Of course, I would also recommend this to young children who enjoy animal books and reading about making new friends. Without a doubt, Farmer Beau’s Farm deserves a 4 out of 4 stars rating.
******
Farmer Beau's Farm
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like hsimone's review? Post a comment saying so!
Animals and lessons to be learned are definitely a great combination. I'm happy this is part of a series, too! It would be a great way for children to start understanding what a series is at a young age, so very clever on the author's part!
