 
|
“Every morning, every night, it’s milking time.” Phyllis Alsdurf’s beautifully illustrated picture book depicts a typical day on a family dairy farm. Twice each day, the cows must be milked. A little girl helps her father as the cows line up, are washed and connected to the milking machines.
She is responsible for feeding the cows; her father takes the milk to the milkhouse. Some milk they save for use at home, and the rest is taken to the creamery.
Alsdurf’s lyrical text takes this whole process step by step, walking the reader into the barn and describing the sights and sounds of the dairy barn. Johnson and Fancher’s illustrations are warm and realistic, evoking a peaceful sense of routine and bond between the animals, the farmer and his daughter.
This is a perfect story for primary students who are studying farms. It reiterates the repetition and hard work but also provides details about the process within a story format. Granted, most dairy farms are larger now, and the cows probably do not receive such personalized care. Nevertheless, the story explains the process, and the never-ending cycle of milking – a slice of life on a dairy farm, told with carefully chosen words which are just perfect to read aloud.
|
|
It's Milking Time