Flip Flap Farm

Reviewed by: Sheila Dube - Springvale Public Library, Springvale, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: June 2, 2014

Review

Young emerging word warriors will love the clever, slapstick mix of animals (121 possibilities) that will result during the reading of this picture book. This hard cover, sturdy page flap book consists of 12 basic animals on the right and 2 rhyming verses about each one on the left of each spread. The pictures are divided into halves which allows the top half of one animal to be matched with the bottom half of a different animal. The new words beg to be read aloud because the left hand margin asks the reader "What is it? It's a COW." When split, it may become CIP, CICKEN, CEEP, COG, COUSE, CURKEY, CORSE, CIRREL, COAT or CABBIT. Scheffler's stylized, simple illustrations match well with this fun and engaging concept book. Although the squirrel combinations are slightly awkward and readers must be willing to stay true to the animal pronunciation's of words like SHOW (Sheep + Cow) instead of show (long o), this is a perfect book for story time, preschool farm themes, beginner readers and lovers of words.

Overall Book Score: excellent