Review of 'Night Night Farm' by Amy Parker

This board book has a bright, attractively-illustrated, padded cover.  The illustrations, by Virginia Allyn, throughout the book are just stunning. They are spreads that cover both pages of beautiful scenes and animals.

The story itself is sweet in its intention, however I have to say I wish Amy didn't try to make it rhyme.  In my opinion, some of the rhymes don't really work. They are either a stretch, and not rhythmically right, like the first page:

"The sun sinks low down on the farm,

So for now, we'll say, 'night night'

And sleep until the rooster crows

To wake the morning light"

The last line is missing a syllable. Which could have been fixed by adding a word. Some of the other rhymes are predictable or not quite right, such as 'farm with warm'.
Some rhymes work well - my favorite page is the horse page ,and I also like the rhyme:

"A trot to the orchard and back

For apples crisp and sweet

Leaves fuzzy foal all tuckered out

Asleep at Daddy's feet"

I'm not intending to analyze the book in great detail, but with a picture book, when there aren't many words anyway... I guess I just felt disappointed, as this book could have been great with a few tweaks and basic errors attended to. Also the fact that owls are nocturnal and wouldn't be going to sleep somehow got missed in the editing process.

I know children will not care about that so much, but since I'm reviewing this I felt it had to be said.  My toddler LOVES the illustrations. I would still recommend this book as the artwork is stunning and it is a sweet story, as long as the rhyming doesn't bother you when you read it.

Please note that I was sent a copy of this book for purposes of review however my opinion is entirely my own and not influenced by anyone else.