116. Welcome to Silver Street Farm by Nicola Davies

Welcome to Silver Street Farm by Nicola Davies. Illustrated by Katharine McEwen. (US) - (Canada) - (Kindle)

Pages: 72
Ages: 7+
Finished: Apr. 19, 2012
First Published: Feb. 28, 2012
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Genre: children, early chapter book, realistic fiction
Rating: 4/5



First sentence: "Gemma says that it started with eating jelly beans on the merry-go-round in the park."

Publisher's Summary: "Even though Meera, Gemma, and Karl live in the city, they've always wanted a farm of their own. And it looks as though their dream may happen sooner than they imagined when Meera discovers an abandoned railway station with grounds for grazing. Next, some eggs they thought were foul hatch into ducklings, and a couple of "poodles" bought off the Internet turn out to be lambs. There's just one problem: how can the kids - and the community - persuade the city council not to turn the old site into a parking garage? The first in a series of fun-filled stories about Silver Street Farm, here is a tale with natural appeal for kids who love animals, aim to be green, and enjoy a do-it-yourself spirit of adventure.

Some animal farms are up in the hills, or down winding lanes. But Silver Street Farm is different - it's in the middle of a city, and it's run by kids!"

Acquired: Received a review copy from Candlewick Press.

Reason for Reading:   I first thought this would be a good for my reluctant reader but he had a look at it and wouldn't read it because it didn't have pictures except for chapter headers.  So I decided to read it myself!

What a darling story and delightfully hilarious!  I got a good upbeat "joy" feeling from reading this book.  A fun little book that would make a perfect read-aloud to youngsters and a good chapter book for those ready to read books without pictures on every page.  The story has a forward motion to it with events getting bigger and bigger until the book ends in its satisfying conclusion.  Plenty of silly happenings with some laugh out loud moments.  One does need to suspend reality though as the adults' behaviour is more what children would wish of them than how they really would behave.  Highly enjoyed.