Old Macdonald Had a Farm

Jane Cabrera's Story Time

by Jane Cabrera

Old MacDonald had a farm, and on that farm he had a whole barnyard of irresistibly cute and uproariously funny animals. With an oink-oink here, and a moo-moo there, the song ends showing the most precious resident of all, a very young MacDonald!

Genres: Picture Books, Storytime, Animals, Childrens, Music, Nursery Rhymes, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2008

About the author

Jane Cabrera is best known as an Author and Illustrator of Children's Books.
She has written and illustrated 56 books which have been translated into over 25 languages and won awards in the US and Europe. She lives on the edge of beautiful Dartmoor National Park in the UK.
Her books range from picture story books to concept board books for babies.

FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/janecabrera...

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustrations in this take on the familiar children's song are warm and cartoonish. But it is also a little weird about the old farmer and his very young looking wife. Not to mention the overly long version of the song, where they have inserted at least twenty more E-I-E-I-O's into the singing of the song.

[Kelly Holmes · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you're expecting to read a picture book of the song exactly as it's sung, you won't be disappointed in this book. I was expecting something a little different, I guess, so I didn't think this book was anything special. The art's nice though.

But the last spread showing Old MacDonald, his wife, and their baby gave me the heebie jeebies. I think because his hair is very gray and his wife's is very blonde. It made me think of Hugh Hefner. I know, I know, it's "Old MacDonald." But still.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little twist on a familiar song. Great for storytimes.

[Nadina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like this makes a great storytime book, because you can sing along to the pages as you read. The illustrations are simple, meaning there are not many little details to distract from the animal of the page.
I am going to tweak some things when I use it, as well as skip a few pages.

[June · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it would be a little long for my mostly baby baby/toddler story time. However, my preschool story time is on the younger side and I might try it with them. The wife and baby seem fun, but I am not sure how the goat fits in.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

24 months - I guess I've just sung this song in the car to O a few too many times. The illustrations are just average and doesn't help to ease the pain of the repetitive nature of the song. I'm not going to touch on the 20+years age difference between he and his wife!

[J9 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great educational book for your younger ones. My twin 3 yr old's loved it. Colorful fun pictures that helps get the child engaged and keeps them engaged. Loved the paintings especially! A great addition to any children's library.

[Ashley Hickey · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. This book is appropriate for Kindergarten.
2. This book is about Old MacDonald who has a farm. It goes through everything that he has on his farm in a sing-along form.
3. This book is great to teach children to classic sing-along of Old MacDonald. The pictures are simple, brightly colored and eye-catching. The sound pronunciations are bolded
4. This book is a great tool to use in a classroom to teach children about farm animals and the sounds that they make. Since the sounds are bolded, it is easy for a teacher to point at them and have children sing along. This book is also a great way to teach children phonemic awareness. It can also teach children vowels and the sounds those vowels make. The teacher can do a phoenix awareness activity after reading the book and hold up toys of the farm animals and have the students sound out the animal and the sound they make.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Appropriate Grade Levels: Prek-K
Summary- Old MacDonald is a farmer. He lives on his farm with his animals. All his animals make different sounds.
Review- This book teaches children the different sounds the farm animals make. The pictures correspond to the animals. This is great for teaching young children site words.
2 possible in the class use:
1. Sing along in class. It's a great way to build vocabulary. Children learn animals on the farm and the sounds they make through repetition in the song. Allow the children to act out the animals and their sounds in class while singing along.
2. Continue adding animals to their sounds. It's fun to allow the children to take turns picking the next animal /sound combination.

[Josiah Byrne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awards: (None)

Appropriate Grade Levels: Pre K to 2nd Grade

Summary: This is a written and illustrated form of the classic children's song "Old MacDonald Had A Farm". It's essentially about all the animals and things that MacDonald has on his farm with song and consistency with the ending lyric for all lines being "E-I-E-I-O" with animal sounds for each one

Review: I feel that it's a fun song to sing for children. It also is educational for them to learn what kinds of sounds various farm animals make. I feel the additional colorful illustrations are also helpful to make it more engaging.


Possible Uses in Class: This can be used as an introduction to learning about animals and can be used as a song activity.

[Fatime Cela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book hasn't won awards, and it would be good for children in PreK-1st grade.

The book follows the song, which goes through the list of animals that Old MacDonald has on his farm, as well as the noises they make.

The song uses a lot of repetitive phrases which makes it good for young children to repeat. It has nice colorful illustrations that go with the words of the song.

This song can be used for phonemic awareness activities, as it has repetitive sounds. It can also be used with young children for a farm themed unit, to teach them the very basics of what might be found on a farm.

[Kia Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

1.)Awards the book has received (if any): No awards
2.)Appropriate grade level(s): Pre-k-2nd grade
3.)Original 3-line summary: Old Macdonald is the farmer. On his farm, there are a lot of animals. All the animals make different sounds.
4.)Original 3-line review: This is a classic children's song. It's really easy to sing along to because it's repetitive. The song is really upbeat.
5.)2-3 possible in-class uses: The teacher can have toy animals in the play area for the children to play with. The teaching can also use this song at the rug area during their morning meeting.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 2 out of 5]

I always thought of Old MacDonald as a song about farm animals and the noises they make.

So, it's a little disconcerting to start the song with Old MacDonald's wife. And the songs she makes? Kiss, kiss.

Also wish the goat said Maa, Maa instead of Munch, Munch.

The farmer is drawn with gray hair with white highlights. The wife looks young and has blonde hair. They definitely appear to be a May-December romance.

The book ends with all the animal sounds (but no kisses) and then a waa-waa because the farmer and his wife have a baby.

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This picture book illustrates a variation of the classic children's song "Old MacDonald Had a Farm."

In this version of the song "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," gray-haired Old MacDonald has a much younger wife and a baby the age of a grandchild, and the song ends, "Waa! Waa! Old MacDonald had a baby! Ee-i-ee-i-o!" I found this rather puzzling and didn't understand by Jane Cabrera didn't stick with the original text.

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awards the book has received: n/a
Appropriate grade level: PreK
Original summary: This story takes children on a musical journey through the sounds of different farm animals.
Original review: I recommend this book to parents and teachers with young kids to teach them about animals.
1-2 possible in-class uses: This can be used as an interactive sing along with pre school students to learn about farm animals.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old MacDonald isn't as old as his grey hair implies (or else he's an old guy with a young wife?) because this version starts with the verse, "Old MacDonald had a farm ee-i-ee-i-o, and on his farm he had a wife, ee-i-ee-i-o, with a Kiss Kiss here and a Kiss Kiss there..." and ends with "Old MacDonald had a...Baby! Ee-i-ee-i-o!" This is a fun book to read (sing!) out loud with small children, pointing out the repeated words as you go.

[Jenn Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the art style and would be happy to have a book to go with the song but...
-Since when does it need to be ee-i-ee-i-o instead of just e-i-e-i-o
-Already weird that kissing the wife is included in the song, but starting with it really threw me for a loop
-I guess goats much but more so they say Maa right?
-I didn't need the baby either
-I loled at all the reviews pointing out the age gap relationship representation

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not going to lie, I skipped the first and last verse when I shared this in storytime today. Kids love Old MacDonald for the animal noises, so I kept it to that. It's kind of long, so I also skipped a page or two in the middle to keep things moving. Still not a bad storytime pick, though, since I don't think the kids would have cared if I'd sung it in full.

[Graham Whittington · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perhaps this begins a sad chapter of me using this platform to roast kids books, but the twist on this old singalong tale is that the clearly (as depicted) old Old MacDonald has a clearly (as depicted) super young wife and they have a kid together. So the titular farmer in this rendition is a cradle-robbing creep.

Would recommend not reading this to your toddler.

[Josh Bader · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t really like this book very much. It was the exact song. One thing I did like that I thought was very cute was the, in the end, the farmer has a baby to end the song. This had its own little twist on the book that I loved.

[Beth Huddleston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This rendition had three ways to interact - reading it, listening to it being read through the sound button, or listen to it being sung. My two month old who generally gets bored with books loved this book with the pictures and sounds. It also had a lovely surprise ending.

[Bryce Hall]

"Old Macdonald Had a Farm" will help younger children learn about animals and the noises they each make. There is a variety of animals present in this book and points out the respected noises each animal makes.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this a few times to my almost one-year-old. I like the unique take on the classic song. The illustrations of the animals and objects are wonderful, but the people are not quite up to par. Colorful pages. Rhyming.

[Ms. Shoshana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the twist of Old MacDonald having a wife and baby. It's a little long, though. Still a good read aloud.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can't read this book. You have to SING it.

Neat ending.

[Alisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic old macdonald song with nice illustrations. Could be fun as a sing-a-long book.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great take on the classic song Old Macdonald had a farm with a twist ending. The kids take a while to get the word twists but a big hit. toddler and up

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun twist on the song - not high brow literature, but great illustrations and the kids will enjoy it.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun twist on this classic song. This will be a hit in Toddler or Baby Storytime.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anything to do with farm animals in a children's book is a win in my household.