Barnyard Banter

Title: Barnyard Banter
Author: Denise Fleming
Genre: Children's Picture Book
Age Group: Lower Elementary
Rating: 4 Stars

What originally struck me about Barnyard Banter were the elaborately collaged and colorful illustrations.  They remind me of the Eric Carle collages of animals, which I am a big fan of.  The colors and collaged papers are textured and paint splattered, making them extremely appealing to the eye and attention-grabbing.


The story teaches children the noises that animal makes, and also can help them with animal identification.  With only a few words in a relatively large font written on each page, the book is ideal for beginning readers.  The lines also rhyme from page to page, making the book perfect for a sing-along or read-aloud in a classroom.  Throughout the story, you see parts of a goose hidden within the page.  Every few pages, the text asks, "where is goose?"  this is a fun way for the students to interact with the book, searching for the goose amongst the intricate illustrations.


I would imagine this book to be the perfect big book.  By reading this aloud to a kindergarten class in a big book form, students would be able to read along, and see the colorful images in a larger form.  I can imagine my future classroom having kindergardeners singing along to the noises of the animals, and being able to identify the sounds each animal makes.