From its opening lines, "Red barn, red barn, what are you keeping? One rumbling tractor ready for reaping," this innovative concept book is off at a trot, teaching basic colors and numbers from 1 to 10 while exploring a traditional family-run farm. Bjorkman's energetic watercolors reveal the contents of each farm building. Six cuddly kittens can be counted in the green barn's loft; seven heifers are sheltered in the brown barn surrounded by muddy muck; nine sows sleep in humorous poses in the hay. The lilting rhyme repeats, encompassing each building and animal into a view of farm life that leads up to "the whole and the heart" of the farm--the nuclear family in the tidy, white farmhouse, where two children play, Mom is in the kitchen, and Dad comes in from his chores. The concluding double-page picture of the entire farm underscores the book's warm and idyllic, if perhaps old-fashioned, image of farm life. Ellen Mandel Copyright c American Library Association. All rights reserved