Down on the Farm by Merrily Kutner

Down on the Farm by Merrily Kutner, illustrated by Will Hillenbrand

Rating: 3 repetitive stars

We came across this book because it is illustrated by Will Hillenbrand, whose pictures we fell in love with in Whopper Cake.  This book was a little disappointing for us. While it did provide the kids with a fun book to hear, the super repetitive "down on the farm, down on the farm" nearly did me in.  I am a fairly patient person and I love me a good children's book, but...good things don't happen when you have those two lines stuck in your head for hours:

"Down on the farm, down on the farm" as you clean up after dinner, "down on the farm, down on the farm" as you tidy up the playroom, "down on the farm, down on the farm" as you shampoo kid #1's hair, "down on the farm, down on the farm" as you shampoo kid #2's hair, "down on the farm, down on the farm" as you finally achieve some time with your husband, and "down on the farm, down on the farm" as you drift off to sleep.

You get the idea.  If Lorelei and Ben see this book at the library, I might distract them with a "Look at that pony out the window!" and stash it under the nearest bean bag chair.

Now I do have to say that there are lots of animal noises in the book, and of course Ben loved that.  We are pretty sure that he will opt not to speak for several more years, choosing to grunt, oink, growl, bark, and bray through elementary school.  To his future teachers, I apologize in advance.