Cows and Sheep and Chicks That Cheep: Farm Poems

by Douglas Florian, Douglas Florian (Illustrator)

Overview

Celebrated poet Douglas Florian is back with a new picture book of poetry that puts a delightfully fresh and funny spin on farm life.

Our family farm is lots of fun
with things to do till day is done...

This family farm is filled with udderly loveable cows, silly billy goats, a-maize-ing corn, and much more to feed and tend to and care for. With clever poems that are perfect for reading aloud and chock-full of farming fun facts, there’s plenty for young animal lovers and aspiring agriculturists to love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781665937740
Publisher:	Beach Lane Books
Publication date:	05/06/2025
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Douglas Florian is the creator of many acclaimed picture books including Windsongs: Poems About Weather, UnBEElievables, Poetrees, and Dinothesaurus. He lives with his family in New York.

Douglas Florian is the creator of many acclaimed picture books including Windsongs: Poems About Weather, UnBEElievables, Poetrees, and Dinothesaurus. He lives with his family in New York.

Editorial Reviews

Florian has done it again . . . a fun, engaging rhyming stomp through the farmyard. Hand to fans of Jack Prelutsky or Shel Silverstein.

2/7/25 - School Library Journal

Just right for early readers . . . . Simple rhyming structures and repetition are used throughout, while whimsical spelling adds a distinct sparkle.

3/3/2025 - Publishers Weekly

2025-03-08
Painter and poet Florian delivers the latest in a long line of humorously themed collections.

A brown-skinned child wearing overalls and pink sneakers narrates 23 poems that highlight the animals, crops, and routines of the family farm. Florian’s signature wordplay appears in poems such as “Cows”: “Udderly calm, / and udderly still. / Cows are udderly, udderly chill.” With his visual jesting, the author often upends expectations by placing animals in humanlike settings. The cow reclines, sipping a cool drink, while elsewhere, a rabbit poses for a selfie. “The Barn” extols the importance of such buildings: “A place that’s safe and free from harm, / the barn’s the center of the farm.” The poet doesn’t shirk from the ongoing toil that comprises daily farm life. “Rise at dawn. / Mow the lawn. / Milk the cows. / Feed the sows. / Pull up weeds. / Plant some seeds.” “Corn” riffs on that plant’s long lineage in Mexico. Corn “grows / in rows / a-maize-ing,” while the facing page shows an image of a half-shucked ear spelling out the wordmaize in darker kernels. The mix of fact and fancy continues throughout. “Collie” sings the praises of an expert shepherd depicted in boxing gloves, holding predatory wolves at bay. “Llamas” portrays a woolly creature (whose “llovely hair makes fleece for yarn”) knitting placidly. Florian’s mixed-media pictures and punny verse charm once again.

A fresh look at the family farm.(Picture book/poetry. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews