Sleep Tight Farm: A Farm Prepares for Winter

PreS-Gr 2--A family farm produces delicious homegrown treats during the spring, summer, and fall. But what happens to the farm during winter? Readers will discover how one family puts the farm to bed: from gathering and chopping wood and harvesting the last of the tomatoes and okra to fluffing up the chicken coop and selling the last of the bounty at the farm stand. By the time December comes, the family members are hard at work hanging lights on the house, busily using the last of the harvest to make garden vegetable soup and fresh fruit pie. At long last, the farm is tucked in by quilts of snow as the quiet wind sweeps across the plains and the group settles in for a long, cozy winter. Idyllically pastoral illustrations complement the lyrical text, adding to the book's calming, lullabylike charm. Each season and its corresponding produce are highlighted in detail, demonstrating how each crop serves a specific purpose: beeswax for the candles that light the long winter nights, vegetables for winter stew, chickens for their eggs, and plump berries for delicious pie. Plenty of animals, foods, and activities are featured, affording lots of opportunities to strengthen narrative skills and dialogic reading during storytime. VERDICT Adults and children alike will appreciate this rustic, comforting tale that will feel at home in most picture book collections.--Natalie Braham, Denver Public Library