Wannabe Farms

Wannabe Farms
Brian McCann
Meghan Lands, Illustrator
Penguin Workshop, 2020 148 pages
Grades 2-5
Humor

This silly chapter book told almost entirely in rhyme relates what happens to a farm as the city encroaches and the animals become inspired by human ways. Each chapter focuses on a different farm animal and the adventures they have when they try to replicate a human practice or invention. The cows design a car, the chickens attempt to invent a television set, the pigs attempt to share in an elegant feast, and so on. Each chapter/adventure ends with hilariously disastrous results. Each chapter title warns us that the attempt will be a fail, so the kids will be in on the joke. The narrator breaks the fourth wall with bonus non-rhyming insights in a different color ink and font that are also humorous in nature. The story ends with the conclusion that animals are just not meant to behave as humans and asks the question: Where is that farmer, anyway?

Award winning television comedy writer, McCann, channels his inner Dr. Seuss with this silly story told in verse. Writing children's books looks easy and many people think they can do it and the common trap is to write for children in rhyme. Since this is a very early transitional chapter book, the rhyme can sometimes help the developing reader anticipate the last word of a connecting sentence. On the downside, it also encourages some challenging vocabulary and storylines that don't always make sense. The story is silly enough that readers will not care that the rhymes do not always work and they will enjoy the jokes. The best writing occurs when the narrator speaks directly to the audience without the rhyming. Those bits are truly funny and clever and being printed in a different color and font will not confuse the intended audience. The comic illustrations are properly silly and plentiful and highlighted in pink for extra interest. The whole time I was reading this story I kept asking myself "where is the farmer?" He/she is seen to exist, from evidence within the pages, yet these crazy and destructive shenanigans are being allowed without intervention. The narrator answers my question by the end, questioning the same thing. Neither of us gets our answer, yet that bit made me laugh. Probably not the best transitional chapter book out there, but sure to be enjoyed by the target audience. Give to fans of Mercy Watson.