Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Sleep Tight Farm: A Farm Prepares for Winter
Illustrator: Becca Stadtlander
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Chronicle Books , 2016 ISBN: 978-1452129013
It is December and the days are getting shorter and darker. The big hay and corn fields are empty, the trees are bare, and all is quiet, but at the farm the people are busy; it is time to put the farm “to bed” for the winter.
Out into the cold morning they go to cover the strawberry plants with hay so that they will be protected from “winter’s frosty bite.” Raspberry plants are also prepared for the winter, their canes cut back so they cannot be cracked by wind and snow.
The last of the fall vegetable crops, kale, carrots, beets and potatoes, are harvested and stored in the barn. The hay was brought in weeks ago and now Dad goes out into the field to plant a cover crop so that the fields are replenished before the next season.
Wood is chopped so that the house will be kept warm through the winter months, and the chicken coop and bee hives are winterized so that the chickens and bees will be warm and safe. This is much to do before the farm and it people can take a well-earned rest.
In this wonderful picture book we see how the members of a family work together to get their farm ready for winter. There is a lot of work to be done, and at the same time there is a lot of gratitude to offer up for all that the farm has given the family in the spring, summer, and fall. The farm has been good to them and they have not forgotten this.
