Farm Flu

by Teresa Bateman, Nadine Bernard Westcott (Illustrator)

Overview

2002 IRA-CBC Children's Choices
Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, Gold Seal Award

Ka-choo! Who's sneezing? It's the cow, the chickens, the pigs, the turkeys, the donkey and the sheep! All the farm animals have the flu, and Mom is out of town. Luckily, her son knows just what his mom would do, if it were he who had the flu!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807522769
Publisher:	Whitman, Albert & Company
Publication date:	01/01/2001
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	36 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Teresa Bateman is the author of many books for children, including The Bully Blockers Club and April Foolishness. She is a children's librarian and lives in Washington state.

Nadine Bernard Westcott has illustrated more than eighty books for children. She lives in Massachusetts with her family and one cat.

Editorial Reviews

Bateman's (The Ring of Truth) sweetly silly rhyming tale of mounting chaos triggered by good intentions inspires Westcott's (Skip to My Lou) menagerie of familiar animals to mimic some over-the-top human behavior. Tending the farm while his mother is away, the boy narrator hears the dairy cow sneeze, "Ka-Chooo!... I'd never helped a sickly cow," he says, adding, in what becomes the book's refrain, "But I knew what my mom would do/ if it were me who had the flu." He puts the guernsey to bed--literally--but soon finds he has an epidemic on his hands. The next day, as he notes a donkey gorging on chocolate donuts and a pig listening to a Walkman, it dawns on the boy that there is a corollary to the example set by his mother: coddling has its limits. "Too sick to be outside, I see,/ Then you're too sick to watch TV!/ No toys, no games, just stay in bed./ No popcorn--/ you'll have mush instead!" The boy restores order, but finds that he, too, has come down with the flu. On the last page, the animals kindly minister to him. Westcott's drawings lack the loopy looseness that characterizes her best works, and the book's squarish format cramps the expansiveness of her visual whimsy. But enough fun and folly burst from these pages to make this a literary chicken soup for any young, temporary invalid. Ages 3-7. (Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A boy takes care of a cow that has come down with the flu and suddenly it seems the whole barnyard is under the weather. "This sweetly silly rhyming tale of mounting chaos triggered by good intentions inspires Westcott's menagerie of familiar animals to mimic some over-the-top human behavior," said PW. Ages 3-7. (Mar.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 2-A humorous rhyming story that's as much fun to look at as it is to read. Mom leaves the farm in her son's hands for the day and while she is gone, the animals all come down with the flu. Caring for the sick creatures in the manner that he knows his mother would care for him, the boy puts the cow to bed, complete with tissues and alfalfa tea; "popped the piglets in the tub/and gave them all a belly rub"; and makes popcorn for the donkey. And when the animals begin having too much fun being sick, the child removes their TV, toys, games, and popcorn, just as his mother would do, resulting in an instant cure. Westcott's lively illustrations add comedic touches throughout. The turkey working the TV remote control and the chickens sipping from juice boxes are sure to elicit giggles. Great fun for reading aloud.-Kathy M. Newby, Kokomo-Howard County Public Library, Russiaville, IN Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

"A terrific choice for reading aloud."

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