Old MacDonald Had a Phone

by Jeanne Willis, Tony Ross (Illustrator)

Old Macdonald loves his phone: it helps him organize his farm. But when the animals each get one of their own, they are soon on their phones all day―"Here a tweet, there a chat, WhatsApping the farm cat"―and before they know it, no work is getting done!

What can Old Macdonald do? Sing along to the tune of "Old Macdonald Had a Farm" and see! A hilarious cautionary tale for a new generation of phone-users, from the award-winning partnership of Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Humor, Technology, Animals

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 21, 2021

About the author

Jeanne Willis was born in St Albans and trained as an advertising copywriter at Watford College. She worked for various agencies creating press adverts and TV, cinema and radio commercials. She is now a full-time writer and has published over 80 books. Her hobbies include gardening, reading (non-fiction), natural history and collecting caterpillars. Jeanne has also worked on scripts for TV, including POLLY POCKET and THE SLOW NORRIS, and a pilot TV series for DR XARGLE. She lives in North London with her husband and two children.

Reviews

[Matti Karjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeanne Willisin ja Tony Rossin yhteisissä kuvakirjoissa on viime aikana pureuduttu sosiaalisen median ja älypuhelinten aiheuttamiin moderneihin ongelmiin (jos kiinnostaa, niin ota haltuun Pukkien pikku pila ja #Kultakutri).

"Piippolan vaarin kännykkäkriisissä" (Mäkelä, 2021) maatilan eläimet saavat kukin oman puhelimensa, eikä sen jälkeen mistään tahdo tulla mitään.

Lopulta ratkaisu kuitenkin löytyy, kun vaari pitää elikoiden kanssa kokouksen, jossa puhelimen käyttöä päätetään rajata. "Piippolan vaarin maatilan täyttää iloinen vilinä / Kun yhdessä ollaan, ei juttua häiritse puhelinten kilinä." Jo tästä ajatuksesta myönnän yksistään kolmannen tähden.

En muuten osannut laulaa koko kirjaa läpi, vaan ehkä se ei ole mahdollistakaan?

[Merita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tätä ei tietenkään kuvakirjaihmisenä saisi sanoa, mutten ole ikinä tykännyt Tony Rossin kuvitustyylistä. Tässä kirjassa idea oli itsessään hauska, muttei ainakaan käännettynä päässyt maaliin. Varsinkaan, kun oikein kannessa kehotettiin laulamaan mukana, ja nuottien kuvat siivittivät kerrontaa. Ei tämä tuttuun sävelmään kyllä sopinut kuin paikka paikoin :)

[Sonja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved, loved this book! So fun!

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Who exactly is this for? Toddlers who love Old MacDonald won't understand it and the older readers who understand the references have aged out of Old Macdonald. It's an okay book, but I guess I don't get it.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old MacDonald loves his smart phone, but when he accidentally drops it in the lake, and then accidentally buys 100 replacements, all the animals start using the phones and the farm shuts down. With all the phone usage, no one is doing their job!

Clever illustrations, but I had trouble maintaining the rhythm and rhyme. I thought the illustrations were funny, with some of the farm animals acting like people on their phones. Kids who relate will find the humor, it's what happens when phones take over, and maybe a good lesson will be learned, about sensibly using the technology we have.

Cross posted to https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...

[Barbara Band · Rating 5 out of 5]

New take on the familiar Old MacDonald poem. All the animals now have phones and so nothing gets done as they're online all day. Cue the farmer confiscating all the phones which makes the animals rather grumpy ... until they all agree to limit screen time each day. Great message for younger children.

[Jayanthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brings out laughter while narrating how things are today. It's like one of the productivity books for kids. 😉 My daughter loves it. I will read this everyday for this week since this is our book of this week. Well, this also reminded her of how her parents use the phone sometimes. It was sure a knock on the head for me the first time I read it.

[Ronda · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I appreciate what this book was attempting to do, my neurospicy brain struggled with the clunkiness of trying to cram some of the words into the tune of the song. I could sing the story sometimes--and sometimes it just didn't work. That said, it could lead to a great discussion about using technology in a responsible manner.

[Zee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hilarious, modern take to the infamous nursery rhyme, with illustrations by a legend. At the same time, teaching the importance of balancing screen time. Every child should have the pleasure of an adult reading it aloud to them.

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fourth book in this fun series that aims to teach young children internet safety, this one focuses on screen time. Written to the tune of Old MacDonald Had a Farm this is a jolly story that gets its point across subtly with plenty of humour.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting take on Old MacDonald Had a Farm for modern-day children. A nice story that explains why too much phone use can stop life going on. Not your typical nursery rhyme story and maybe more useful for older children.

[Anna C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeg er vild med plottet til denne billedbog, hvor man kan lære de mindste om onlineadfærd.
Bogen kan synges til den normale 'Jens Hansen havde en bondegård' og da jeg fik den i hånden og bladrede, så kunne jeg faktisk slet ikke lade være med at synge den.
En sjov og fjollet bog.

[Markku Kesti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vähän laimeaa riimittelyä ja ilmeisiä ongelmia kännyköiden kanssa. Setä ei nyt lämmennyt tälle, mutta sopinee opettavaiseksi tarinaksi puhelinten vaaroista viisivuotiaille. Vähän päälle liimattua opettavaisuutta toki.

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

A look at how much phones take over our lives if we don't set limits and find balance. Clever idea but the text doesn't always work with the song pattern and some of the ideas just don't work.
Can be used to start dialogue in a family.

[Charity · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is super cute but I was hoping it would have a little more specificity on safety issues that come with kids having smart phones, etc. It did definitely hit on how things can fall apart if one dedicates all his or her time on the phone.

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ihan nuotilleen tämän kirjan luku ei mennyt, vaikka kuinka yritin laulaa Piippolan vaarin tahtiin. Hauska, opettavainenkin tarina kännykän/älylaitteen koukuttavuudesta.

[Norkett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A modern day take on using phones and spending too much time on them. It didn't flow as nicely as the original "Old MacDonald" and it may be best geared for older children.

[Anna Mcgrath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would make a great storytime book!!!

[Lindsay Ross · Rating 1 out of 5]

No.

[Tapani Aulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yritin lukea laulaen, mutta eihän siitä mitään tullut. Muuten hauska kirja

[Runa]

pleasantly surprised to see a picture book about screen time that doesn't make technology the root of all evil! love to see the message about balance being the most important part in the end.

[emyrose8 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ehhh, seemed like it tried too hard. I liked the first half, but the second half got a little preachy.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remember to use your phones responsibly

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter loves this book, myself not so much. She liked how it mentioned cell phones have their place of usefulness. Especially if they are not used all the time.

[Lara Bate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a play of words with the nursery rhyme Old MacDonald Had a Farm. It was a bit harder to sing along so but the message was to educate kids on using the phone appropriately.

[Melanie Gaum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute illustrations and a funny idea, but the rhythm and rhymes didn't always work.

[Fatima Seraj Alam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this rip-roaring hilarious take on Old Macdonald’s rhyme of when the farm animals get addicted to phones. Made me chuckle quite a bit.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun modern riff on the old favorite song. Likely to be enjoyed more by adults than children, but will appeal to all ages.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Jeanne Willis has titles and covers that sound out but I haven't been super impressed with the actual books. They're fine.