We are a big fan of the Usbourne Farmyard Tales in this house, so when I found this one at the bottom of a pile in my favourite bookshop I was pretty pleased with myself. Books and stickers are my 2 year olds favourite things, so something that combines them both is always a winner!


***The Series***

The Usbourne Farmyard Tales are a series of simple stories for young children and first readers. Set in Apple Tree Farm with the farmer Mrs Boot and her two children Poppy and Sam, it introduces children to the farmyard and the animals that live there. Beautifully illustrated in the ‘Usbourne style’ (anyone who owns one of the ‘First Thousand Words’ series will know what I mean) these are a lovely set of books to own. Olivia has the box set of all the stories, but you can also get them in one volume and translated into most languages.


***The Story***

Apple Tree Farm has acquired a sheepdog and the children take him around the farm to show him all the other animals. But Patch the silly sheepdog frightens the chickens and the pigs and makes everyone angry with him as he doesn’t listen to instructions. When they get to the sheep field they discover that one of the sheep is missing and Patch comes into his own, finding the sheep behind a bush. The sheep is with Patch’s former owner who tells them that he only responds to whistles and the mystery of the silly sheepdog is solved!

The text telling the story is at the top and bottom of the page, with simple sentences and a large bold font. The very simplest sentences are at the top e.g. ‘Patch has found a boy’ and the more complex ones at the bottom e.g. ‘The boy pats Patch. “I wondered who bought you when my Dad sold his farm”, he said’. This makes this book ideal for first readers as they can work up to the more difficult sentences.

***The Stickers***

On each one of the 16 pages there are two or three white shapes, corresponding to the stickers that come with the book e.g. a white hedge. The stickers at the back come with the relevant word as well to help with word recognition for younger children i.e. those who are working from the shape of the picture. This would also help older children who might know the word to choose the correct sticker without help and also to anticipate the missing word. In addition to these stickers there is a reward sticker for each page, to be stuck on when the child finds the hidden yellow rubber duck. It is a nice little additional activity to extend the interactive fun with the book. Of course once you have stuck all the stickers on you have a rebus style book to read and enjoy, rather than a completed sticker book which often has no further use.


***Our Impressions***

My two year old quickly got the hang of what she had to do and was capable of identifying and placing the correct sticker with the bare minimum of help i.e. we chatted about the white shape and what it might be and then she chose the correct sticker. I also had to help taking one or two of the stickers off the sheet. The spotting the duck activity was the source of lots of excitement as well, that was the first thing she wanted to do on each page.

Now we have finished the book it is a firm favourite as the pictures are clear enough for her to be able to decipher most of the story without having to read the words, which means she can ‘read’ it to her long suffering dolly! I am just beginning to use it to introduce her to the whole concept of words using the word that accompanies the sticker picture.

These sticker books are larger than the usual Farmyard Tales books, meaning they are easier to use as reading books to younger children. There are no complaints that she cant see the pictures or that I cant see the words and the book lies flat easily, meaning that my daughter can lie on her tummy on the floor and look at the pictures herself (without losing her temper when it keeps closing!).

It does say on the back that these books are not for children younger than 36 months because of the size of the stickers, but I took this with a pinch of salt. There are no tiny stickers, they are all at least 2cm long and my daughter has been handling stickers smaller than that for a few months. Even if you do have a sticker eating child etc, then surely with adult supervision this wouldn’t be a problem, or you wouldn’t be looking at sticker books in the first place.

These Farmyard Tales have a wide appeal because of the lovely illustrations and stories and I have given out several as birthday and Christmas presents.


***Others in the Sticker Book Series***

The Hungry Donkey
The Runaway Tractor
Scarecrow’s Secret
The Grumpy Goat
Pig Gets Stuck
Tractor in Trouble
Pig Gets Lost
The New Pony
Camping Out
Market Day
The Naughty Sheep

There are about 20 Farmyard Tales in the non-sticker book format as well.

***Price***

RRP-£3.99 (not bad for a sticker book, activity book and story book combined!)

Amazon Marketplace offers start at £0.49

***ISBN***

074606490X