Farm Animals (Usborne Beginners)

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Synopsis

What are farms and why do people keep animals? What's it like on a farm? What are some of the animals that are commonly kept on farms and what products do they produce that people use? These are just a few of the questions that this book answers. Kids will learn lots of new facts about farms and farm animals, all written in easy language to help beginning readers hone their reading skills.

Review

Farm Animals is a non-fiction, children's picture book with text geared toward early readers. It takes children on a journey to the farm, discussing all kinds of animals that might be found there and the reasons farmers might keep them, such as for their meat, milk, eggs, wool, etc. There are super-short chapters talking about what farms are, what feeding time might be like, and how ranches are a type of very big farm. There are also chapters on egg-laying, milking, and shearing. Then it discusses specific types of animals that might be kept on farms. Here, I liked that the author didn't just stick with traditional farm animals like cows, chickens, and pigs, but also broadened her scope into other types of animals like fish, crocodiles, and ostriches, which kids might not realize are kept on farms. There's even a chapter on very cold and very hot climates where you might see animals like reindeer or camels being farmed. At the end there's a glossary of farm words and instructions for accessing Usborne Quicklinks to learn more.

Overall, I think this is a great book for young children to learn more about farms and the types of animals that live on them. It's appropriate for younger pre-readers, but written in accessible language tailored just for beginning readers. One thing that impressed me enough to bump up the rating a half star is that the Usborne Quicklinks currently still exist and seem to have been kept up to date, which is almost unheard of for a book this old (published in 2002). This little book was well done and has left me interested in trying other books in the Usborne Beginners series as well as more by author Katie Daynes.

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