Contains animals in a farmyard that are out of place. This book asks the young readers to help. It features collage art in felt, stitched with antique fabrics, buttons, and other bric-a-brac that illustrate this text.

About the Author

Stella Blackstone has written many successful books for Barefoot Books, including the popular Cleo series. Her books continue to be translated into many languages. She currently lives in the Cotswolds with her three children. Clare Beaton has been charming audiences for years with her hand-crafted children's picture books. Clare graduated from Hornsey College of Art with first class honours and then spent eight years working at the BBC Television Centre, illustrating for various children's programmes including Playschool, Jackanory and Playdays. Her studio is a treasure trove of felt, sequins, buttons, antique fabrics and other material that she uses in her artwork. She has published over fifty books.

Reviews

PreS-Exciting, eye-catching illustrations and rollicking, rhyming text follow a "cow in the cabbage patch, moo, moo, moo-" that "should be in the dairy, what shall we do?" Beaton's whimsical illustrations prepared in felt and cotton with beads and buttons follow two farmers who push the cow to the dairy, but find a dove destined for the birdhouse, and an owl in the birdhouse that ought to be in the old barn, and so on. The tale continues until it's dinnertime and "all these naughty animals are back where they belong!" Large shapes and bright colors will satisfy even those in the back row of a group. Pair this with Doreen Cronin's Click, Clack, Moo (S & S, 2000), Margaret Wise Brown's Big Red Barn (HarperCollins, 1965), and Wong Herbert Yee's Mrs. Brown Went to Town (Houghton, 1996) for a super storytime.-Debbie Stewart, Grand Rapids Public Library, MI Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

The magical blend of flannel boards and quilting is like eye candy - a visual feast for the mind and the soul' - Booklist

It's not just the cow that's gone astray in Blackstone's (Bear on a Bike; Bear in a Square) mixed-up barnyard. Not one of the animals is where it should be: "There's a pig in the henhouse, with piglets pink and new./ They should be in the pigsty, what shall we do?" But the couple who runs the farm have a solution: "Tell them all it's dinnertime, then it won't be long/ 'til all these naughty animals are back where they belong!" Stitchery wizard Beaton (Mother Goose Remembers) seems right at home from the opening pages. Shedding the tableaux feel of her earlier work, she displays an almost cinematic aesthetic here, composing and cropping her remarkable appliqu‚s of felt, buttons and beads to capture the comic havoc of the farmyard denizens. What's more, the meticulous beauty of her work finds the ideal showcase in the book's full-bleed, double-page spreads. Ages 6 mos.-4 yrs. (Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.