Perfect Picture Book Friday: HEY, HEY, HAY! PLUS PB Manuscript Critique Giveaway

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Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, everyone!

The leaves are already turning color and the evening air has that autumn nip in it. What a perfect time for today’s picture book review!

Tomorrow, the author of this book, Christy Mihaly, will be stopping by to chat and she has graciously agreed to offer a picture book manuscript critique as a giveaway. Please leave a comment to be entered and come back tomorrow for the Q&A and, if you leave a comment there, you will have two chances to win.

heyheyhay

HEY, HEY, HAY! A Tale of Bales and the Machines That Make Them

Written by Christy Mihaly

Illustrated by Joe Cepeda

Published by Holiday House (August 2018)

Ages: 4-8

Themes: Farm machinery, farm life, girl power

Synopsis: From Amazon:

“A joyful rhyming story about a girl and her mother and the machines they use on their family farm to make hay.

Mower blades slice through the grass./A new row falls with every pass./Next we spread the grass to dry./The tedder makes those grasses fly!

A girl tells the tale of making hay as Mom uses a mower for mowing grass, then a tedder for aerating the grass, and eventually a baler. Told in rhyme and illustrated with fabulous art by JOE CEPEDA, each part of the process is a celebration of summer, farming, and the mother-daughter relationship. Back matter includes a glossary.”

Why  I like this book:

  • Growing up in the city, I didn’t know much about farm life…I think it is important for kids who grow up in the city to find out how life is on the farm. Plus, kids who grow up on a farm these days need to see themselves in a book other than Old Macdonald.
  • Great palette used by the illustrator with bold drawings.
  • LOVE the rhyme…and kids will love it, too.

RELATED ACTIVITIES

15-Baby-Animal-Days-Farm-Crafts-1-750x750Photo courtesy: https://iheartcraftythings.com

Who can resist baby farm animals? These crafts are so simple. For detailed instructions: https://iheartcraftythings.com/15-baby-animal-days-farm-crafts-for-kids.html

Please don’t forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a Picture Book Manuscript Critique by author Christy Mihaly.  Then, come back tomorrow when she stops by to chat on Picture Books Help Kids Soar. And remember our authors need our help. Spread the word about the books you love and make sure you leave reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and other review sites.

I hope you all have a beautiful weekend. I am waving from Chicago today!

 

53 thoughts on “Perfect Picture Book Friday: HEY, HEY, HAY! PLUS PB Manuscript Critique Giveaway”

    • Heather, that’s so much fun that the kids are excited about the work on the farm. I have enjoyed hearing from lots of folks who grew up on farms and remember those chores. Thanks for sharing the book!

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      • Oh, I LOVE the smells of hay being cut and baled! Funny story. My husband. Well that could be funny right there. But one day, between rainy days, we were driving past farmers furiously harvesting. I said, “Gotta may hay while the sun shines.” He thought for a bit. “OH, it really means that!” LOL. Yes. Hay needs to be DRY so it doesn’t mold. We had some good laughs out of that one.

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    • Hi Dee, I was surprised to learn that there weren’t a lot of books about hay for kids out there. It’s been fun to share it with kids.

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  8. I am going to recommend this book to our Ag in the Classroom rep. Each year they donate a selection of books to the schools for use with Ag programming. Even though we live in the country, kids still don’t know much about farming or where are food comes from.

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    • Oh, Sarah, This warms my heart! I would love to see teachers using HAY in their classes. Thank you! Which state do you live in? I talked with an agriculture in the classroom person after the book came out, who said he loved the book and mentioned the need for “accurate agriculture” books. He said he’d seen enough of the “talking pigs and dancing cows” in kids’ books — lol. And it’s so true — kids are curious and often don’t know what farmers do and how important they are to our lives.

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    • Thank you, Jodi! I really enjoyed describing the haymaking process (and all those cool machines) in a way that was fun for kids.

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  10. I’m looking forward to reading tomorrow’s post to hear more about how this book came to be. I completely agree with you, Vivian, that city kids need to know what happens on farms (and learn about where their food comes from before it’s in the store!) and farm kids will love seeing themselves in this story. Thanks for spotlighting this book!

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    • Thank you! One thing I’ve learned in sharing this book with kids is that even those who live in rural areas aren’t always familiar with the work of their farmer neighbors. And yes, Vivian is so right. More on this tomorrow!

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    • When I started thinking of writing about hay, I was so surprised to learn that there weren’t other books for kids about haymaking out there. And because women are farmers — I wanted to include that aspect too. Joe Cepeda’s art really brought it all together. Thanks for your support!

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  13. Hi Christy. Writing what you know and what you live. I live in an old farmhouse and am surrounded by horses, cows, even a couple of alpacas and a goat. My manuscripts tend to include farm animals in them. Thank you for sharing your journey with us and good luck with this cute book.

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    • Thanks so much, Sharon — yes, writing what you know, and sharing with others who don’t! Plus kids are really curious about farms.

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    • Emmie, that’s awesome. I’m really enjoying connecting with all these other farm-loving writers — and parents who grew up around farms and hay and want to tell their kids about it. Thanks for your comment —

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    • Thanks so much, Leslie — I’m loving how many people are sharing their love of hay! I was surprised to learn that there were not already a ton of picture books about hay, and happy to be able to fill in that gap. I hope you like the book!

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