Barnyard Dance

We have more books by Sandra Boynton in our kids' library than by any other author, and I always think of Barnyard Dance as the book that started it all. Purple Butterfly recived it as a present from a friend, and we all immediately fell in love with the rhythm and rhyme, and the silly animal illustrations. We were hooked, and we had to have more Boynton.

In this book, the barnyard animals are having a dance. It's called like a square dance by the fiddle playing cow, and all the animals get a chance to do their thing to the music. What music; it's a book, you say? Oh, you'll provide the music as you read. That is one of the things that is so great about this book.

If you don't have any Boynton, try this one out. I think you'll be hooked, too.

Pigs to the Rescue

Our process for picking books to check out the library is random. We randomly pick books off the shelf and check them out. The title or author may pique my curiosity. For Purple Butterfly, it's usually the color. She likes to pick out purple books.

Pigs to the Rescue is one of my randoms, and it was such a good choice. It's one of very few books we've renewed because we liked it, not just to avoid a fine.

The Greenstalk family owns a farm that is home to some overly helpful pigs. Their good intentions never turn out the way the Greenstalk family would like.

This book is fun and funny. It's not a long book, and what it may lack in words, it more than makes up for in its vivid illustrations. There is so much movement and joy in the artwork that it will keep big kids and little occupied for long time as they take in all the details. And they'll just love the silliness. We do.