ALA Booklist (Sun May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2005)

At the end of a long day, Farmer Joe heads for bed. Back in the barn, a band of his animals prepare to rehearse for their rock concert later that night. Cow and Chicken set up drums and keyboard, while Pig and Goat tune their guitar and bass and vocalist Sheep tests the mike. At the performance, they play their version of Old MacDonald Had a Farm, with riffs on their instruments instead of the usual animal sounds. Their frantic fans go wild. Krosoczka says on the back flap that he had childhood daydreams of rock stardom, but even kids who've never picked up an air guitar will enjoy the droll humor. The paintings, which start out simple and bucolic, become increasingly jazzy as the band heats up, climaxing in a frenzy of form and color, then reverting to a quiet scene when morning brings Farmer Joe back to the barn. For parents and teachers who want an audio version, the book's Web site features a downloadable version of the song.

Horn Book (Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2005)

After Farmer Joe goes to bed, five farm animals prepare to play a gig in the barn. The concept is appealingly cheeky, but the execution is limp: there's no conflict, easy rock clichés abound ("Whatever, dude"), and sixteen pages of images of the band rocking out is overkill, with its rendition of "Old MacDonald" seeming to last as long as "Freebird."

Kirkus Reviews

In concert with other recent picture books depicting farm animals banding together for riotous fun, Farmer Joe's five-some thrives on rock! After he retires for the night, the animal audience arrives and Punk Farm performs Old MacDonald Had a Farm , with Sheep on vocals, Pig on guitar, Goat on bass, Chicken on keyboards and Cow on drums. True to the song, each refrain spotlights one of the animals, but there's no mooing here and there. With this band, the cow goes "Boom" and "Crash" and the pig goes "Ray Roo" and "Ray Ree." Boisterous paintings synthesize with the bold, high-decibel type in this outrageously clever and comical gig. The cover, title page, autographed poster and endpapers don't miss a beat to keep a whole lot of shakin' going on. These shade-wearing punkers are laugh-out-loud funny and the details in the illustrations are, let's just say, baaaaa—d. Fans will definitely want a return engagement. Rock on! (Picture book. 5-8)

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2-After Farmer Joe heads to bed, Cow, Goat, Pig, Sheep, and Chicken pull out their instruments and electronic equipment, don their shades, and transform themselves into the rock band Punk Farm. Animals line up outside the barn to buy tickets, then settle in for a rousing show featuring a way-out version of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," with each musician doing a solo. At sunrise, a none-the-wiser Farmer Joe finds his sound-asleep livestock not quite ready for "a big day of work." Single- and double-page cartoon-style paintings combine muddy and bold colors to contrast the earthy farm setting with the energy, edginess, and excitement of the concert. Print, mostly white drop-out, is used effectively, juxtaposing traditional block style for the narrative with a larger, more graphic layout of the same typeface to suggest the distinctive musical sound. The eye-popping orange and purple front cover sets the scene and contrasts with the muted blues, browns, and greens of the back cover depicting the fabulous five in the barnyard, post-event. The fun is carried onto the endpapers, which feature a montage of posters, torn tickets, publicity "photos" of the band, and scrawled notebook pages. Quite a romp.-Marie Orlando, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.