Jennifer Churchman

I adored the first book by the Churchman's titled THE SHEEPOVER. The sweet story of friendship between Sweet Pea and her farm friends was a delight as well as the amazing photography on each page. I gave the first book to my great-niece for her birthday and both of us just loved reading and looking at the pictures over and over again. I couldn't wait to get the second book in the Sweet Pea & Friends series.

John and Jennifer Churchman live on a farm in Vermont and base their stories on the animals living on their farm. The photography is magical and gorgeous and the stories are perfect for young children.

This story is based on Finn, a lamb that was born on their farm in the middle of winter on a very cold night. Their mother didn't have enough milk for both Finn and his twin sister, Hayzel, so they needed extra care. Except, Finn, needed even more care and was very sick. The Churchmans were not even sure Finn would make it. But after spending several months being cared for in the farmhouse, Finn was finally strong enough to go outside. But, everything on the farm was new to him and scared him. So, his fellow farm friends showed him how not to be afraid of the new things on the farm like lilacs (they were good to eat) and hummingbirds and even spiders. Through the story, we are able to watch Finn grow up over the course of a year on the farm. We watch Finn get stronger and explore the farm during the spring, summer, and fall. Children will feel excited for Finn right along with him as he conquers his last fear while everyone cheers him on.

Finn is an adorable little lamb and children will love reading his story over and over again.… (mehr)

I really liked this book because I thought it was so sweet how all of the animals cared so much about the sick sheep. In the book, the orphan sheep named Sweet Pea is sick. The farm dog goes to alert the farmer and all of the other farm animals are very worried about Sweet Pea. The farmer calls the vet who determines that Sweet Pea has an injured leg and fever. Sweet Pea has to stay in a special barn while she recovers, but when she returns the farmer plans a big sleepover for her with all of the other animals. When Sweet Pea is well enough, all of the animals are so excited and spread the word around very quickly that she's back. At the sleepover there are special snacks, dancing with a disco ball, dress up costumes, and the farmer reads all of the animals a bedtime story. The main idea of this story is to care for your loved ones who are sick. When the animals first noticed that Sweet Pea was not feeling well they did everything they could to get the farmer, and then when she was feeling better, they made sure to welcome her back. I really liked the illustrations in this book because they were photographs of actual animals and people but there were also drawings over top of the photos. I also really liked how descriptive the writing was. When the story is talking about the fox going to inform the sheep dog of Sweet Pea's illness it says, "Wild Red Fox moved swiftly past on silent, snowy paws." I loved the way his movements were described and I could actually see a fox quickly but quietly move across the snow.… (mehr)