Sunday, June 30, 2013

"Escape from Silver Street Farm" by Nicole Davies & Illustrated by Katharine McEwen

In Escape from Silver Street Farm of the Silver Street Farm series of books, the children are actively engaged with farmer Flora and their farm which is located in the city. A farm in a city is unheard of but actually fits quite well the active imagination of the young reader.  On the farm, they have sheep and turkeys which escape from within the confines of the fences that are set to house them in this unreal cityscape.

Once the animals escape the children begin trying to figure out how they escaped, who helped the animals escape, how to recapture them, and how to protect them from going over the dam. Deduction. Pursuit. Resolution are all part of the children's activties in the story.

As a young child progresses in his/her reading skills, they venture into the reading world of chapter books. The Silver Street Farm series of books make early chapter book reading appealing and doable. The books are relatively short in total number of pages . The chapters are short so as not to tire the young reader. The illustrations throughout the book keep the reader's mind engaged and helps them to visualize the characters and events.

The story shows adults and children working together in the community and on the project. It engages the American child in a bit of British literature since the author is British. And there is a touch of multicultural activity with Meera and family's Indian sweet treats.

I recommend this series to libraries and young readers.

GIVEAWAY: Candlewick Press is graciously providing a giveaway copy for one of Chat With Vera's readers. Begins July 1 & ENDS July 18 @ 12:01 a.m. EDT. Open to USA addresses only.
a Rafflecopter giveaway  
DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy of Escape from Silver Street Farm from Candlewick Press in exchange for my honest review. No compensation was received for writing this review. Opinions are solely those of the reviewer. The giveaway copy is provided compliments of Candlewick Press and will be shipped directly to the winner.

26 comments:

  1. Jennifer P - Vicki Furrin on r/copterJuly 2, 2013 at 10:01 AM

    I don't have any kids, and to be honest I've never had any experiences at all with farm animals.

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  2. Jennifer P - Vicki Furrin on r/copterJuly 2, 2013 at 10:02 AM

    I'd like to get "Peck, Peck, Peck".

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  3. When I was a child, I would spend the summers with my grandmother. Her neighbor had cows, and the water trough was an old bathtub. We used the walk around the edge of tub - tricky because if you slipped you got wet! One day a cow had enough of us & pushed my friend in with her head - I was so started I fell in too!

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    1. Teresa, that is just too funny! Good memories, though! Right?

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  4. We'd like to read This is Not My Hat.

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  5. Great to meet you on the hop! I always live hearing about quality children's lit from places far from my home--it reaffirms that books can be an effective bridge between cultures. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. When our children were still young, we took them to visit an ostrich farm once. One of them bit our son, Jerrad! It was scary for him then but he laughs about it now & talks about it a lot.

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  7. I would love to add The Magician's Elephant to our home library for our grandchildren. There's just something about elephants we all love!

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  8. My grandparents lived on a farm for a LONG time, before their passing, last year. I remember my grandpa having to help his cows to have their calves. What a neat experience!

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  9. I grew up around farm animals and loved it. My grand babies haven't had the experience yet.

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  10. I would like to win this for my grand son, He's 3.

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  11. I also like the book Peck, Peck, Peck

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  12. Hubby's aunt had a dairy farm never forget the time my oldest boy now 45 yrs old saw a cow and it came up to him, BT took off like he was being attacked and would not go near the cows ever again..

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  13. THink my granddaughter would love to follow this series like this one - Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun author: Liz Kessler

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  14. Hi Vera!
    Thanks for linking up on the Kid Lit Blog Hop and for the great giveaway! I'm now following you on Google+ :) Hope you're having a great summer!
    Ang
    www.jugglingactmama.com
    PS - I'm having a children's book giveaway at my site too with an autographed prize pack from Jodi Moore - hope you'll stop by!

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  15. No, not yet; he's too little to take to a petting zoo, but he has to pet *every* cat & dog in the neighborhood lol! I have to remind him to *ask* the owners if their pets are friendly first! :-)

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  16. *Definitely* "Balloon Trees"! :-)

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  17. I'd like to get "Peck, Peck, Peck" for my grandson, too!

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  18. Hmm we have not had a farm animal adventure, but we have been to the zoo, where Max stood two inches from a tiger! (2 inch glass)

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  19. When I was growing up we had chicks that hatched in our kindergarten class. When they hatched I lied (yes I was mischievous) and said my mom said I could have one. She put it in a paper bag and I proudly walked home to show my mom my new baby chick! Needless to say... she wasn't too happy but let me keep it :)

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  20. We recently went to our hometown Dairy Festival where they had a petting zoo - with rabbits, a calf and other farm animals.

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  21. Another book I would like is All Rivers Flow to the Sea

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  22. Yes we recently went to a farm where goat cheese is made and got to see the goats, chickens, cows and horses up close

    lemonzest12 at hotmail dot com

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  23. Timmy Failure Mistakes Were Made

    lemonzest12 at hotmail dot com

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