The Folks in the Valley: A Pennsylvania Dutch ABC

My son still throws lines at me from this book from time to time! He is now 12 and remembers it well. We read it daily (sometimes more than once) for about 2 years between his ages of 3 and 5 and now, when we do the annual bookshelf cleaning, he still insists on leaving that one on the shelf! No, he doesn't pick it up to read anymore (boo hoo...they all have to grow up), but boy, on that bookshelf-clean-out-day, he likes to remember! Also, when someone brings a child to our home, its one of the first he chooses to read to him/her! This book is beautifully illustrated, reminds us of our hometown (Lancaster PA) and has a GREAT alphabet learning rhythym with this prose! I reccomend this book to parents with toddlers and to early readers!

I used the book with my students and they really enjoyed it. They learned about the Pennsylvania Dutch and their life style along with the alphabet. A new word, "row", was introduced and lead to a wonderful dictionary lesson.

Better than the usual A-Z teaching tool in that it's a well-written piece of prose--how surprising. Lovely illustrations with an Amish theme. Will please adults as well as the young.