With a moo and a quack and a chimmy chimmy chuck, and a cat that goes fiddle-i-fee, this lively board book about a gaggle of noisy barnyard animals brings new life to a zany, delightful, and well-known song. Artist Emily Bolam's appealing pictures, all painted in dazzling colors, simply pop with energy and good humor. What a wonderful presentation of the traditional English cumulative rhyme. It's fun to look at and fun to read aloud—and also a great way to introduce young children to farm animals and the sounds they make. It all begins with the I had a cat and the cat pleased me, and I fed my cat under yonder tree . Cat goes fiddle-i-fee . Before long, each animal is enjoying its meal, and expressing very loud appreciation. The horse neighs, the pig goes griffy-gruffy, the sheep baa-baas, and the cow moos in a happy cacophonous chorus. And the pictures pulse with color; everything's in astonishingly brilliant reds, glowing greens, shimmering blues, and sunshine yellows as dynamic as the chattering creatures themselves. Kids will want to read this over and over again.
Author
Harriet Ziefert grew up in North Bergen, New Jersey, where she attended the local schools. She graduated from Smith College, then received a Masters degree in Education from New York University. For many years, Ziefert was an elementary school teacher. She taught most grades from kindergarten to fifth grade. "I liked it," she said, but she stopped teaching when she had her own sons. When her children were older, Ziefert wanted "a bigger arena" for her work. She went to work at a publishing company, Scholastic in New York City, developing materials for teacher's guides for kindergarten language arts and social studies programs. "About twelve years ago," says Ziefert in a 1995 interview, "I tried to get a job as an editor, but no one would hire me as a trade editor. So I decided to write my own books." Since then, she has written several hundred books, mostly picture books and easy-to-read books. "I write books very quickly," she says, "in about twelve hours. I rewrite them three times over three days, and then they're done." She writes about twenty books a year.
