Cuckoo Bush Farm - Hardcover

Dick King-Smith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 185213061X ISBN 13: 9781852130619

Publisher: Orchard Books, 1987

Synopsis

By the author of "The Fox Busters", "Magnus Powermouse" and "The Queen's Nose", this story is about Hazel, who helps her parents on the farm by looking after all the baby animals. The story has an unexpected ending.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

As the seasons change, so do the rhythms and activities of Cuckoobush Farm. In spring, there are newborn lambs in the field; in summer, the garden grows, and the hay is cut and baled. Autumn brings the sowing of winter wheat; and, when winter comes, the animals are snug in their paddocks. Against this backdrop, Hazel becomes the sister of newborn twins, whose arrival she accepts with the same enthusiasm she feels for the baby animals on the farm. In deceptively simple text, King-Smith presents an astonishing array of farm activities. He also captures the soothing lilt of the season's cycles and the ways in which new life blooms each spring. The sole dissonant note is an isolated mention of a "hungry fox slinking through the farmyard"an ominous reference that is never put in context or pursued. Kazuko's debut in children's book illustration is a festive and welcome one. Using brightly colored shapes and paper cutouts, she creates a world of bold constrasts, simple yet arresting figures and patterns, and eye-catching, flat perspectivesa visual bounty for readers to reap. Ages 5-up.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 2 A pleasant story about life on a farm during various seasons of the year from the viewpoint of Hazel, the youngest child in the family. While her older brother helps her father in the fields, Hazel takes care of the baby animals, a happy task since she loves babies. She is delighted when her mother has twins on Christmas Day, and in the spring happily adds looking after them to her responsibilities. The book does a nice job of giving a sense of the rhythm of farm life over the year and showing some of the work involved on a farm. It pictures the farm as a pleasant, happy place, and the family as caring and loving. The pictures are done in paper collage using bold, stylized shapes to give a flat, simple effect that well suits the mellow country setting. The nubby textures of some of the paper used add depth and a sense of the farm land. Bright, clear colors create a cheerful feeling. While not an exceptional book, this is an informative and interesting picture of traditional farm life. Jane Gardner Connor, formerly at South Carolina State Library, Columbia
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Orchard Books
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 185213061X
• ISBN 13: 9781852130619
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Kazuko