Pistes d'exploration

Join in the refrain as the book is read aloud.

Talk about typewriters. What were they used for? What have they been replaced with and why?

Write a letter from the ducks to Farmer Brown.

Before reading, learn vocabulary that is important for understanding such as farmer, cow, hens, typewriter, blanket, strike.

Imagine what item other animals might like to have and write a letter to Farmer Brown about it.

Sing related farm songs such as “Old Macdonald” or “BINGO”.

The Day the Crayons Quit, The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash, Dooby Dooby Moo, Moo!, Me First!

Mots-clés

Humour , Picture book , cows , ducks , farms , letters , negotiations , onomatopoeias , workers' strikes

Commentaire descriptif

Farmer Brown is plagued with a mini revolt. The cows have discovered an old typewriter and typed up their demands for better living conditions. Farmer Brown is furious when the chickens join in the strike: “How can I run a farm with no milk and no eggs!” When Duck—ostensibly neutral—is called in to act as mediator, the duped farmer gets more than he bargained for, because now the ducks have commandeered the typewriter. Cartoonish watercolour illustrations, boldly outlined in black, evoke the expressive faces of the animals and their comical acts; they are perfectly suited to a text that plays with font and sound as much as it plays with—and subverts—the conventional stereotypes of farm stories. Younger children will enjoy the easy-to-follow storyline and its accompanying onomatopoeias (“click, clack, moo”; “click, clack, quack”) while older ones will appreciate the humorous incongruity and repetition in this amusing read-aloud.