Wonderful Farm ANNOTATION
Marinette and Delphine live with their parents on an enchanted farm where all the animals talk.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Two real little girls enter into magical adventures with talking animals of their farm and the nearby woods. Children will enjoy the trickery of the animals and the girls mischievous behavior."--School Library Journal. First published in 1951, this was the first children's book illustrated by Caldecott Medal winner Maurice Sendak.
FROM THE CRITICS
Children's Literature
Both the simple stories and the illustrations, among Sendak's first published, are charming and delightful in this book about two sisters who live on a farm in France. What is unique about their adventures is that the farm and woodland animals talk in a matter-of-fact manner as if such a thing was a normal occurrence; so, of course, it is a "wonderful farm." Seven separate stories feature Delphine and Marinette and the animals with problems needing solutions. One dilemma presents the mean gander who will not return the girls' ball until the cunning donkey tricks him into believing that the frozen pond has been covered to prevent the gander from swimming. The book's mood is of simple, country life with lessons to be learned for children growing up. The parents are painted somewhat stern and burdened with chores. If there is a complaint to this reissue for today's young readers, it is that the stories are longish and run on. The Sendak illustrations provide a glimpse of what is to come. 2001 (orig. 1951), HarperCollins, $6.95. Ages 7 to 10. Reviewer: Jacki Vawter
Children's Literature - Jessy Deutsch
Mischievous children, especially, will love joining Delphine and Marinette in their frolicking fun with the endearing animals-who talk and play like the best of friends -with the sisters. The adventures reach their high point, of course, while the mother and father are out of the house, when the girls take over and the usual strict rules are done away with. Translated from the French, the book overcomes moments of datedness (the original version was written in 1951) with a comical whimsy that will always ring true.
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