Over in the Meadow

"Over in the meadow, in the sand in the sun,

Lived an old mother turtle and her little turtle one.

"Dig," said the mother,

"I dig said the one";

So he dug and was glad in the sand in the sun."

Book Cover

The excerpt above is just the beginning of the wonderful journey through the meadow (courtesy of John Langstaff ). This lovely little book takes you through the lives of all the animals the make their lives out on the meadow and also helps children learn to count. From turtles, to bees, to spiders, to bunnies; this book is a wonderful tool to have for kindergarten-aged child.

The idea for the book came from an old folk song "Over in the Meadow" that Langstaff which also covered. The book also had beautiful illustrations by Feodor Rojankovsky. The whole book is a flawless masterpiece for our young children.

I personally loved hearing this little rhyme story as a child (and even now I can remember most of the words) and was very relaxing to hear right before bed. The copy that I own currently was going to be thrown away initially by a library who thought it was "too old" for children to enjoy it. But thankfully, my mother rescued it from the trash and has been living in our household ever since.

This story is a timeless relic that should never be labeled as "too old" for children; one of many beautiful things about children is that they can use their imagination to make things understandable, and that's all you need to understand this book even if you don't have a meadow to walk through. I would think that it's more harmful not to read children these sorts of stories than to do so and the children not being able to see any or this in real life.

No matter where you stand on children's books, this is a great one. ***** FIVE STARS!!!!!!!!!!

-Demelza

Over in the meadow in a new little hive,
Lived an old mother queen bee and her honeybees five.
"Hum," said the mother,
"We hum," said the five;
So they hummed and were glad in their new little hive.