Barn Storm

by Charles Ghigna, Diane Greenseid (Illustrator), Debra Ghigna

This comical introduction to cause and effect is ideal for emergent readers, who look for cues in simple rhymed text and bright, bold art as they take their first steps toward reading independently.

When a twister hits the pond near Farmer Brown’s farm, some very odd things happen. The fish and frogs take flight. They land in some unlikely places—like the barn and the pigs’ trough—setting off an uproarious chain of events that affects the entire farm. Once the weather subsides and the farmer and his family emerge from the storm cellar, they encounter a whole new world, including some unexpected (and four-legged) tenants in their house!

Step into Reading is a complete literacy program with something for every child. The program offers five steps to reading success. Children can progress through the steps at their own speed, developing confidence in their reading, no matter what their grade. Every book’s step is printed on the cover and the spine. Each title contains a fun story and is filled with colorful art.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: Animals, Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Library Binding

First published September 28, 2010

About the author

Charles Ghigna - Father Goose® lives in a treehouse in the middle of Alabama. He is the author of more than 100 books from Random House, Disney, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Time Inc. and other publishers. He has written more than 5,000 poems for children and adults that have appeared in anthologies, newspapers and magazines ranging from The New Yorker and Harper’s to Highlights and Cricket magazines. He served as poet-in-residence and chair of creative writing at the Alabama School of Fine Arts, instructor of creative writing at Samford University, poetry editor of English Journal for the National Council of Teachers of English, and as a nationally syndicated poetry feature writer for Tribune Media Services. He speaks at schools, conferences, libraries, and literary events throughout the U.S. and overseas, and has read his poems at The Library of Congress, The John F. Kennedy Center, American Library in Paris, American School in Paris, and the International Schools of South America. For more information, visit his website at FatherGoose.com

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun easy-to-read book for emergency readers. Both the text and the illustrations are delightful.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe this is ridiculous and I'm overeacting, but I found this book a little disturbing. The family sleeps through a tornado in a storm cellar with smiles on all of their faces. The animals are all picked up in the tornado and set down unharmed.

[Arwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

We have read this book so many times that it's showing a lot of wear and tear. Since age 2 our little bug has loved this silly story. Now at age seven she can read it on her own and still loves it!

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A twister hits a farm and instead of causing damages, causes lots of animals to relocate.

I've read a couple other books about the animals on a farm getting mixed up, but usually that results in them switching noises they usually make. This one just has one animal make a new noise and focuses on the crazy new places the animals have decided to hang out. Kids should like the silliness of this. (Do NOT give this to any kid traumatized by a real tornado though. It makes light of a tornado going by and chaos in its wake. I did student teaching at a school when a tornado had just caused several of them to lose homes and the trauma was very real.) For those who can joke about a tornado, this should be a fun and silly read about some mixed up animals.

[Cara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book my son and I have read multiple times so he could test on it at school for AR. It was plenty of new vocabulary words for him (like twister and gasped) because it picked them up easily enough. He loved the pictures and thought the story was funny (the cows sleeping with the children and the mule hee-hawing at 5am).
Definitely recommend to someone who's children has the basis of reading down and wants more vocabulary.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this book out of the neighborhood little free library today.

Lily wanted to read it before we got home, so we sat on a bench in the park and read it twice.

It's a good rhyming story about how a tornado causes havoc on a farm, creating a cascade of displaced animals until the cows have moved into the farmhouse.

That farmer and his wife with ten kids, though... no way those parents would look so carefree, lol.

[Kimberly Medley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barn Storm is a hilarious and has a positive ending to all the changes that went on during the storm. This book can be a fun way to teach about farm animals and their homes/ environments. An exciting activity that teachers can do is create a storyline of where the farm animals are suppose to be after the mix up of the storm.

[Jada · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was okay, I'd use it to talk about farm animals and where they are supposed to live on a farm. The illustrations are funny and colorful. An activity I'd do would be mixing up the farm animals and have the children figure out where they are supposed to go. I'd use this book for preschool-aged children 3-4 years.

[Laith · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was funny because the cows went inside the house and lived their and the fish blew away.

[Sereen Hudaib · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It is a good book for teaching about tornados, and how it could affect the environment. A great book for animals theme, and where animals live on the farm, children will need to figure out where they all belong by the end of the book. The illustrations are colorful and engaging. Children will find it fun and silly.

[Vanessa]

Easy to read book for young children. Its a book that will be enjoyed by many. Illustrations bring the story to life.

[Jordan Ledford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was kinda confusing. The illustration are okay. This book is geared towards elementary level. A good book to read when talking about tornado safety.

[Paola Nunez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very funny and has a great ending. I recommend reading this in a classroom, to get children to laugh and enjoy the book.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and even entertaining when reread!

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A twister comes and mixes up everything on the farm, with animals displaced and living in unexpected places (frogs in the barn, cows in the farmhouse bedrooms).

[WillTessMicah Fremont · Rating 5 out of 5]

The kids love this book. It's funny and has great rhyming words. My first grader can read most of it on his own.

[Emmett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. It was cool.

[Kierra Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the colors in the book, and the illustrations. It gives children a sense of the weather as well. I the rhyming schemes.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

My children absolutely adore this book. Reading literature is so important to the development of a child's mind, and I cannot think of thing I would rather do then sit down to read to them in the evenings. Imagination and growth are so vital in those so young.

[Mary Greer Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource book for preschoolers through first graders. This book give the children short sentences. It provides basic vocabulary for children to recognize familiar words. The children are able to hear individual phonemes in a word. Very engaging and good for introduction to independent reading with help. Great activities can also be created from this book with awesome props.

[carissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended Ages: grades K-1

When a tornado touches down in a pond on Farmer Brown's property, it sets off a chain of events among the barnyard animals that soon has every creature displaced, but not unhappy.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the vivid pictures and humorous, rhythmic story. Everything gets scrambled at the farm when a tornado blows through. I think pre-schoolers would love to hear this story read over and over again.

[Eugene Magee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this story. You can use it when teaching young readers how to read. It has short sentences and basic vocabulary.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

When the twister hit the farm, all the animals ended up in different places. A fun story in rhyme for Step 2 beginning readers, ages 4-7. (Also a good choice for older beginning readers.)

[Kaylin and Liam]

5 years old

[Jiselle Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny.

[J.]

AR 2.4. J said she didn’t read this one in school, now that she’s “level 2”. Whatever that means. Maybe she won’t read to teachers anymore, and just take the quiz at school.

[Elanor]

All by herself!