Tuesday Book Club - Farm Folk-Song Books

Hope everyone is having a great January! I don't know what it is, but every January I am always ready for spring and summer to just be here already so I like to read books that take place outside with nice weather! Today, for the January Tuesday Book Club, I thought I would focus on Farm Folk-Song Books.  If you have a blog- be sure to link-up!  Directions are at the end of the post :)

3 of my favorites are:

The Farmer in the Dell- Illustrated by John O'Brian

This is a really cute version of the song we all know.  In this book the Farmer falls down into the dell and each verse is adding another person or animal to the chain to pull him out.  There is his wife, the nurse, a child, a dog, a cat, a rat, and of course the cheese.  Per usual, the Cheese stands alone and in this case is reluctant to help get the farmer out of his predicament but eventually he gets in and the farmer is saved! Your students will love the twist at the end too (when the farmer is celebrating being saved and he falls into the dell again!)  This is one that students want me to read over and over.

Bill Grogan's Goat- Adapted by Mary Ann Hoberman and Illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott

Another one of my favorites! This one is a favorite of a lot of people- adults and students included.  My mom just asked me about it recently because she was on a hike with a former Oberlin Music Professor and he told her to make sure I have it in my collection because it is the best! It tells the story of a goat who eats a farmers shirts so the farmer gets mad and ties him to a railroad track.  Luckily, the goat is able to cough up the shirts to flag down the train.  He gets on board and all sorts of hilarity ensues with many other fun farm animals.

Fiddle-I-Fee- by Will Hillenbrand

Again the familiar tune is set to wonderful pictures.  In this story, as taken from the book jacket: "The farmer and his wife are too intent on preparing for the birth of their new baby to notice anything unusual.  It seems that their animals moo and quack and neigh as they always did.  But late at night, by the magic of the moonlight, something extraordinary happens..."  I love this version because not only are the illustrations great, but the kids love to guess what animal comes next (there is always a clue!) and sing along!

I would love for you to link up and write a post about your own favorite book to read or sing and how you incorporate it into your classroom.  It can be a farm book- or not! Even one of the many other versions of the folk-songs above :)   There are so many great books out there! If you don't have your own blog, feel free to comment on your favorites as well!

To link up: Copy the Tuesday Book Club picture from the top of the post and put it at the top of your blog post.  Be sure to link the picture back to this post!   Once your post is written and published, click the link below and copy the url where asked and then you are all set!  The link-up will be open til January 31, 2015- but of course you can comment after that!