Work This Farm!

by Michael Anthony Steele

Build your LEGO library book by book!

It’s a busy day on the farm!
A big farm needs big machines.
Follow the farmers as they feed the animals and harvest the crops.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books

80 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2011

About the author

Michael Anthony Steele is an author and screenwriter living in Dallas, Texas. He’s written for a wide variety of entertainment and educational properties from Barney & Friends to the novelization of the recent film, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. He’s written over 60 licensed books for such major properties as Shrek, Penguins of Madagascar, Wordgirl, The Batman, Garfield, Spider-man, Speed Racer, Winx Club, Sly Cooper, and many more. Anthony’s television experience begins with the award-winning PBS series Wishbone and carries him all the way to writing 25 episodes of Barney & Friends and 4 DVDs of Boz: The Green Bear Next Door.

Between writing projects, Anthony is thrilled to give presentations to schools and libraries across the country. Having been fortunate enough to write for so many famous brands, his appearances require very little preparation on the part of the instructors because, most likely, the kids are fans of one or more of the properties for which he’s written.

Anthony’s current presentation features multimedia elements and tells the story of how he became a writer—following an exciting path through a career in photography and special effects. His appearances have been described as the “rock-n-roll” author visits since he comes with an animated presentation, humor, audio/visual elements, loads of energy, and a guitar—that’s right, a guitar!

His life’s journey has given him unique experience and the ability to share behind-the-scenes knowledge, tell stories, and answer questions not only about writing but also about the film and television industry. More importantly, the main theme of his program is how, with hard work and determination, the students can achieve anything they wish. Anthony was in elementary school when he was first inspired to become a writer and they too can get inspired right now! It’s just that simple and exciting!

Reviews

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book in this series not created by Sonia Sander. Because of that, it has a slightly different look and feel. But it is another great book in the series that I am sure children will love. What is really cool is all the farm machines look like they are illustrations of actual Lego constructions, so readers can try to create them themselves. It has a little more story (text) than most of the others. The illustrations have a more natural feel to the backgrounds and color pallet that was used. It is an awesome continuation of a great series of books for young readers.

Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More. And with links to reviews of other Lego City books.

[Hope L. Justice · Rating 2 out of 5]

We ordered a lot of these books from the series for our library's collection. I am slightly disappointed in them. I thought the illustrations would be made of real legos, not computer graphics. The story lines are just so so. I wish the illustrators had been more creative and thoughtful. The great thing about legos is your taking solid shapes and building structures with them. It is a form of architectural art that kids really love. However these are simple computer graphics and the story lines are simplistic and unimpressive.

[J9 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably somewhere close to a level 2 reading book, my 5 yr old loves these books. He's really into Lego and these books are the first thing he picks up and looks for when he goes to the library. The stories might not always be that riveting, but if it gets him to read, it's good in my book. Not really for preschoolers but good for beginner readers.

[Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked when the farmer said, "with another mouth to feed, I'd better get more hay." And I liked in one picture of the book there was a dog with an axe, running away with it. And, a farmer chasing the dog, saying, "give that back!"

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay book. It's always interesting to see different takes on farm life.

[Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has some names and examples (in lego form) of farm equipment.

[Faloni © · Rating 2 out of 5]

thankfulness will get you safely throughout this adventure with Students in our classroom finding branded animals @ uncles farm 😁

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly informative - includes really good details about life on a farm - from a Lego point of view.

[Bahar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nami, my 5 year old son, loves lego city series. He loves the farmer’a story and the illustrations.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This exceeded my expectations for a story about a day on the farm told with Legos. Nothing completes the experience like reading it to some preschoolers. The cuteness of the three year old may have clouded my judgment of the book.

I'm trying to remember specifics of the book. I think there were cows and sheep.