Miss MacDonald Has a Farm

PreS-Gr 2--This is a jaunty tribute, modeled on the original song about Old MacDonald, to the hard work and satisfaction of growing food. However, this MacDonald is young, female, and a farmer of color. "With a seed-seed here/ and a sow-throw there, / here it shoots, / there it sprouts, / everywhere it sprout-sprouts," Miss MacDonald loves what she does as she plants, waters, weeds, picks, prunes, shucks, and washes her produce and then cooks it all up into a feast for her friends. The text scans well with language that will be fun to read out loud or sing. It will, however, be too complex for a sing-along. This book is not a detailed primer on how food grows, so much as an appreciation of the great variety of edible plant life and the care it requires. Cheerfully colored cartoon-style illustrations have elements of block printing and pack in a lot of action without overwhelming viewers. VERDICT A playful introduction for plant and seed units, this has classroom uses as well as story hour possibilities, especially when paired with the classic song.--Jan Aldrich Solow