Do You Know? Farm: Animals, Work, and Life -- Nonfiction Children's Book Review

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

As spring approaches, I begin to think about my garden. I also am noticing some life at the farm stores and nurseries. I am lucky to have a local farm that grows all year long in greenhouses that I frequent. (It helps that I'm friends with the owners so sometimes I'm there to visit.) Today I am sharing a book recommended for ages 5 and up about farms. It is Do You Know? Farm: Animals, Work, and Life by Camille Babeau and illustrated by Charlotte Ameling, Helene Convert, Ilaria Falorsi, and Camille Roy. It is being released tomorrow.

From the Publisher:

What do farmers do? How are plants grown? Where do the animals live? The Do You Know? series provides an in-depth look at a wide range of popular subjects. Appealing to children who want to know everything, each thought-provoking book features:

• 80 or more pages of engaging and educational answers to many popular questions
• Hundreds of labeled, full-color illustrations
• Educational content reviewed by experts

Fans of this book will also enjoy others in the same series, including Polar Animals, Boats, Music, Jobs, Trains, Dinosaurs, Oceans, Space, Vehicles, Earth, and Animals.

• Great family and classroom read-aloud book
• Books for 5 and up
• Books for kindergarten and early elementary school students

From Me:

I will begin with the fact that the people in this book are multicultural. You have people of different races and genders doing different jobs.  It has pages that remind me of Richard Scary books with labels on the pictures and then a column of information like "How do you become a farmer?" or "How is wool made?". It talks about different kinds of farms and breaks them up as having animals and not having animals. Then there is the chapter on the specialty farms that get into things like organic and more. 

Throughout the book there are various topics but they include some STEM topics like weather, pesticides, biology--cows producing milk, and more. The book covers so many topics and is perfect for introducing farm life, careers, animals, food (for example, how does cheese get made), life cycle of plants and so much more. I can see this book being used by parents and teachers to educate their kids about farms and why they are so important!

It is well written, and the illustrations are fun and informative. Kids are going to enjoy this book and it will definitely answer some of those questions kids ask that we don't always know how to answer. The obvious activity to go with this book would be a visit to a farm. However if that is not an option there are many farm animal crafts available as well as growing activities. I would recommend growing seeds in a window with contact paper and plastic bag or just planting a seed in a cup. This book is also a wonderful introduction to life cycles of both plants and animals! I hope you will check it out!