ALA Booklist (Tue Jan 03 00:00:00 CST 2023)

One of the great traditional counting songs gets a fresh, colorful treatment that will have toddlers chanting and pointing as they name the animals, copy the actions, and learn their numbers. Cabrera's Cat's Colors (1997) was focused on the cozy indoors, but here the big, clear double-page pictures show an open green meadow in yellow sunlight, where frogs jump, bees buzz, worms wiggle, ducks quack, and other animals each do their thing all day long. As in Cat's Colors the thick brush strokes focus attention on the bond between mother and babies, often eye to eye, while the young ones learn what to do. In a final spreading scene, while the mothers are away, all the groups of baby animals come out to play in the open meadow; and then, right at the end, Cabrera lines them up, from 1 turtle to 10 perky rabbits, for more counting fun. (Reviewed February 1, 2000)

Horn Book (Tue Jan 03 00:00:00 CST 2023)

"Over in the meadow . . ." begins each of ten catchy rhymes based on a children's song and comprising exchanges between a mother animal and her offspring--from one turtle to ten rabbits. At book's end, readers are invited to count the babies in each family as they romp in the same meadow. Each cheerful two-page scene is slathered in primary- and secondary-colored paint and reminiscent of children's artwork.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In a lively variation on the familiar nursery rhyme, Cabrera (Eggday) offers an appealing and energetic landscape of boldly applied colors. Smudges reminiscent of finger painting dot the meadow, and each animal, outlined in thick black, stands out against its habitat. A pair of little goldfish with propeller fins swims in a blue-green sea, and seven froggies jump with Old Mother Frog in a """"green grass heaven."""" The """"little ratties four"""" gnaw all day by the old barn door, and 10 gray rabbits twitch in """"a cozy wee den."""" To reinforce the counting lessons, Cabrera shows the entire barnyard scene and invites readers to find the animals once more (""""Over in the meadow/ while the mothers are away,/ can you count the babies?/ They've all come out to play!""""). A final page offers yet another refresher, as the animals cavort around their corresponding numeral. Learning to count--and even a bit about nature--is as easy as one, two, three in this merry meadow. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)

School Library Journal (Tue Jan 03 00:00:00 CST 2023)

PreS-Gr 2-A fun, friendly variation on an old familiar counting rhyme. A big blue rabbit on the cover beckons readers over to the meadow. Bright colorful endpapers feature a patchwork of big squares with numbers and animals in them to identify. Then Old Mother Turtle and her little turtle one dig, Old Mother Fish and her little fishes two swim, and Old Mother Owl and her little owls three "Tu-whoo" until the rhyme is completed with Old Mother Rabbit and her little rabbits ten twitching. The last two full-page spreads provide opportunities for children to count all of the babies again. The pictures, dark heavy outline around the simple shapes that form the animals rendered in eye-popping colors, have the same appeal as Lucy Cousins's art. The acrylics with heavy obvious brush strokes have the look of finger painting. The movement and energy conveyed in the illustrations enhance the rhyme, and listeners may be inspired to act out the animal actions or chime in on the rhyme. The music is not included. Great fun for storytimes.-Jean Gaffney, Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library, OH Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.