Synopsis
Tired of their usual routine, the farm animals insist on moving into the house, so the family decides to move into the barn, but eventually everyone tires of this new arrangement
Reviews
It's a barnyard switcharoo when the animals get a glimpse of life on the other side of the pasture gate. Laments like "That sure looks better than the stuff they feed us" and "They got no flies in there neither" prompt a bevy of beasts to move into the house and demand cornflakes and snug beds. Ehrlich and Kellogg (who previously teamed up for the Leo, Zack and Emmie beginning readers series) invest the naively accommodating family with a goofy cheerfulness that provides much of the book's humor. Pa, Ma, Willy, Billy, Millie and the girl who narrates are blithely oblivious to the household havoc being wreaked by the animals (rendered in Kellogg's characteristically cluttered watercolors). Things finally get out of hand (Ma starts snoring during the Sunday sermon, the pigs flood the house) and the humans flee to the now-vacant barn, completing the swap. Eventually, of course, all creatures yearn for the comforts of home and the groups agree to trade back. A Thanksgiving dinner, filled with extra helpings of silliness, concludes the tale with a celebration of newfound mutual respect. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
In this thematic cousin to Reeve Lindbergh's The Day the Goose Got Loose (also illustrated by Kellogg, 1990), farm animals rebel against their living conditions and move into the house, creating such chaos that the human family moves to the barn. All enjoy the change; then, bored, they decide to switch back--but not before sitting down together for Thanksgiving dinner. ``Hope you like it well done,'' say the pigs, shoveling something black and smoking from the oven. Just what it is, author and illustrator decline to specify; probably just as well, considering the nature of the cast. Kellogg's high-energy pictures are, as always, filled with figures bearing broadly comic expressions--in hilarious contrast to the poker-faced narrative. (Picture book. 6-8) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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