Sue MacDonald Had a Book

PreS-Gr 2—Jim Tobin's sing-along vowel adventure (Holt, 2009) to the tune of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" is introduced with a short interview with the author and the illustrator. Sue is reading a book, My Farm by O. MacDonald, when all the vowels escape. Each subsequent verse of the song tells how she recaptures the errant vowels. The main rhyming words of each verse contain the featured vowel sound, so that Sue rides a train when searching for the "A," uses a net to capture the "E" while "sleeping in a tree," saves "I" from a "life of crime," and so on. It is a good device, but in a few instances, the author takes artistic license to relate the vowel sound to a word. David Coverly's vivid ink-and-watercolor illustrations are scanned with some simple animation. The catchy tune and the colorful illustrations make this a memorable introduction to vowels and a good choice for library and classroom collections.—Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UT