Life on Earth: Farm: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps! by Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano

From TheBookbag
Jump to navigationJump to search


Life on Earth: Farm: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps! by Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano

1847808999.jpg
Buy Life on Earth: Farm: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps! by Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Category: Children's Non-Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Reviewer: John Lloyd
Reviewed by John Lloyd
Summary: A little wishy-washy in providing bland answers to questions relating to a fictional side of the subject, this book still really opens the world of a working farm up for a young pupil.
Buy? Yes Borrow? Yes
Pages: 16 Date: March 2017
Publisher: Wide Eyed Editions
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 9781847808998

Share on: Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Instagram



I'm sure I was full of questions when I was a nipper – which means I was too full of questions. Parents just don't need to be deflecting questions all the time, do they? Living on the edge of a village in the middle of nowhere as I did, I knew quite a lot about farms and farming – that different animals gave different results, that different vehicles meant different things and that the crops behind our house changed. But for the inner city child, there is a chance they have never met a cow or seen a silo. This colourful book, bright in both senses of the word, will allow the very young reader the opportunity of their own fantasy trip to the working countryside.

That is a little bit where the book falls down, for me – the fantasy element. In being presented purely in question and answer, the answers too often referred to a fictional farm. 'What is the tractor doing?' – the author has had to decide. 'What does the farm stand sell? – likewise. 'What is inside the fence? – a generic answer to a generic question, regarding a generic farm.

So while this isn't nearly as great as I found the companion volume on the Human Body to be, it is still pretty cool. There are just so many facts here, and if the page doesn't answer them that's because a lot are printed on (or sometimes even underneath) flaps for you to lift, and to gain an extra layer. Once more the build quality is great – some flaps were most reluctant to pop out, especially those attached to the really sturdy covers. And before too long we have left the bland, Any Farm, Fictionland, behind, and hit the core of the book – the sciency bits, such as what is wool, why would farmers appreciate ladybirds, and how much milking does each cow take (answer – about 340 squirts, apparently, which was news to me indeed).

Some questions still made me grimace – how is ice-cream flavoured, what is a quad bike, what has made that cobweb – but there still remains a lot here that will be an introduction for the target audience to a much-needed topic. While the numbers of schoolchildren in my rural position dwindle, as do farms themselves, primers like this will only become more useful. And a book such as this, with a great interactive format, and a host of things to learn and relearn, is very useful indeed.

I must thank the publishers for my review copy.

Pairs in the Garden by Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Lorna Scobie is of course regarding wildlife even closer to home, and takes its flaps as the impetus for fun as well as learning for a very young audience.

Please share on: Facebook Facebook, Follow us on Twitter Twitter and Follow us on Instagram Instagram

Buy Life on Earth: Farm: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps! by Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy Life on Earth: Farm: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps! by Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
Buy Life on Earth: Farm: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps! by Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy Life on Earth: Farm: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps! by Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano at Amazon.com.

Comments

Like to comment on this review?

Just send us an email and we'll put the best up on the site.