Hurray! It’s Perfect Picture Book Friday!
I’m excited because this weekend I’ll be at the New York State Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, reading during story time with my author friends Iza Trapani and Nancy Shaw, and signing copies of Can’t Sleep Without Sheep and some of my other books alongside them.
If you’ve never been to Sheep & Wool, I highly recommend it if you’re in the area! It’s like the fair, only with lovely autumn weather, every kind of sheep under the sun,
llamas and alpacas,
craft workshops, gorgeous yarns,
knitting and crochet patterns, beautiful clothing and other gift items made from wool, all kinds of fun activities for kids, AND delicious treats like apple crisp made from local apples! 🙂
I hope you’ll join us!
Meanwhile, today’s Perfect Picture Book fits rather nicely with the sheep and wool theme since it’s all about farming and getting ready for winter! Have a look!
Title: Sleep Tight Farm: A Farm Prepares For Winter
Written By: Eugenie Doyle
Illustrated By: Becca Stadtlander
Chronicle Books, August 2016, nonfiction
Suitable For Ages: publisher says 2-5 but I think 3-7 is equally doable
Themes/Topics: nature, seasons (fall/winter), farming, jobs/careers
Opening: “The December days shorten and darken. We are busy putting the farm to bed.”
Brief Synopsis: This peaceful book shows a family getting their farm ready for winter after the cycle of spring growth, summer heat, and fall harvest. Beautiful and informative.
Links To Resources: author’s note at the end describes her life on the farm; extensive list of Autumn Lesson Plans from Scholastic; fun Fall & Harvest-Themed Lesson Plans from Bright Hub Education; 10 Easy Steps To Making Homemade Jam With Your Kids; draw a picture of a farm; draw the fruits and vegetables you would like to grow and pick!
Why I Like This Book: This is a very quiet book. It shows a family harvesting the fruits of their year-long labor – fruits and vegetables, honey from the beehives, wood to warm their home – and tucking their farm in for the winter. The harvest is pictured ripe and colorful. The indoor scenes of home and barn are cozy and filled with warm, bright colors, animals and loving family. By the last page where the light is blue and silver and the snow is falling gently you feel just as tucked in as the farm 🙂 But in addition to being a calm and cozy read, it is extremely informative about how the things we eat are grown and harvested, so young readers will get a sense of where their food comes from. A pleasant and educational read!
text copyright Eugenie Doyle 2016, illustration copyright Becca Stadtlander 2016
text copyright Eugenie Doyle 2016, illustration copyright Becca Stadtlander 2016
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 🙂
For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.
PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific links (and any other info you feel like filling out 🙂 ) to the form below so we can all come see what fabulous picture books you’ve chosen to share this week!
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! Work on your Halloweensie entries!!! 🙂 Come to NYS Sheep & Wool if you can!!! 🙂
Susanna Leonard Hill 
What a fun, gentle story. Thanks Susanna for highlighting it. Perfect for fall and pumpkin patch visits.
So glad you like it, Maria! 🙂
What a beautiful looking book and an interesting topic that will surely delight children, as children just love animals. As a country that has more sheep than people our festivals are called “A and P Shows”(Agricultural and Pastoral) where everyone loves to show their animals to win prizes, and possibly sell animals, from alpacas, cows to chooks and pigs. Enjoy the fall. 🙂
Nice, Diane! That sounds like our county fairs. Sheep & Wool is very specific 🙂 But at the county fair they have everything – cows, horses, pigs, etc, contests for best jams, jellies, pies, cakes, etc. Once at the county fair when my kids were little we all milked a goat – poor patient thing up on a little stand so that people could milk her without getting down on the ground! – and then we all got a pin that said “I milked a goat at the Dutchess County Fair” 🙂
I want to read this book It sounds lovely!
There’s something so cozy about tucking in the farm and gathering provisions for winter! Very Little House In The Big Woods! 🙂
I’ve read this book & shared it with my critique group – it has such lyrical text & the illustrations are lovely. A perfect picture book for this season!
Oh, I’m so glad you like it too, Patricia!
I love the color palette in your choice today. Have a wonderful woolly weekend and say Hi to Iza.
It is a pretty book 🙂 And we are having lovely colors up in our neck of the woods! I said hi to Iza, and we did have a wonderful woolly weekend, thanks very much! A bunch of chatterboxes we are – me and Iza and Nancy 🙂 Wish you could have joined us!
wow. This looks like a beautiful book. It will be interesting to see what it’s like I remember a writer/farmer saying she wished there would be more books about modern farms. Have fun at the festival. I wish I could get away this weekend to come see it.
Oh, gosh! I wish you could have come! It’s the same weekend every year, so maybe you can plan on it for 2017! You know, it’s interesting about this book… I guess it’s a modern farm, but the feel of the story is old-fashioned somehow!
Love this book, Susanna…and have lots of fun at the Sheep and Wool Festival…the wife of a fishing buddy of hubby’s raises her own alpacas and then shears and dyes the wool and shows it at these fairs…fascinating. 🙂
Glad you love this book too, Vivian! And oh, yes! We certainly did have fun at Sheep & Wool! Next year you should come! You can stay with me! So cool about your friend! It’s one of the things I love most about the world – that everyone has different interests and passions and skills. For us it’s PB writing, but for your friend she knows everything about alpacas and their wool – how cool is that?!
oh those woolly fuzzy faces are SO cute! and what a wonderful book… so perfect for this season.
I have a deep personal fondness for sheep, so I’m glad you like their woolly fuzzy faces, Sue 🙂 And it is a lovely seasonal book!
I love visiting sheep barns at the fair and seeing the wool displays.
Another great selection for fall. This time bringing in the harvest and preparing for winter. I love the opening state about putting the “farm to bed.” Lovely cover.
Last year when my son was working with a local vet and taking care of her sheep herd, I got to hold a newborn lamb (well, it had been cleaned off..but was otherwise brand new 🙂 ) It was amazing! SO tiny! Glad you like today’s book!
What a perfect Autumn book, Susanna. The artwork looks beautiful! Have fun at the Sheep & Wool Festival 🙂
It really IS a perfect book, Julie! It makes me want to gather firewood and make jam in preparation for winter 🙂 And the Sheep & Wool Festival was tons of fun as always – and not even cold! Usually it’s freezing 🙂
I should probably read this book. I need the education. A few years ago, I was at a pick-your-own farm, and when I saw the farmer’s wife, I said, “I was just petting some of your goats.”
Her (looking confused and disgusted): They’re not goats. They’re sheep.
Me (with nothing sensible to say): Oh. I’m not from around here….
Idiot.
Hahaha! You are so funny, Genevieve! You probably should have taken Cupcake – SHE would have known the difference 🙂
I received a “redirect” notice on every link I clicked on. Is it me, or did others have trouble? Did you change something, Susanna? We’re both on WP. Hmmm!
Oh, boy. I didn’t THINK I changed anything, Pat, though lord only knows with me! I tried it out and I did get a redirect, but when I waited the proper post loaded… I don’t know what’s up! But thank you for letting me know!
Sounds like a fun outing and a lovely book choice. Enjoy!
It IS a fun outing, Norah! If you ever get the chance, come! 🙂 Glad you like the book choice, too!
Hope you had fun at the festival! Love your pick this week! Great choice for this time of year. 🙂
I did have fun, thanks, Erik! You should come! You and Josie would love it! Next year…! And glad you like today’s book 🙂