Pennsylvania One Book 2019: Barnyard Banter

Pennsylvania One Book is an initiative that promotes the importance of early literacy development for children birth to five years old. Every year since 2006 librarians, early childhood educators, and museum educators have come together to choose a book which encourages imagination and fosters a love of reading in children. The 2019 One Book selection for children ages birth to 36 months is Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming.

The farmyard sounds in Barnyard Banter will help young children develop phonological awareness—the ability to hear and play with the smaller sounds of words. Learning the names for animals will help babies and toddlers learn vocabulary. Both are essential skills for future reading. And a fun game of “But where’s Goose?” will keep both grown-ups and children having fun!

After you share Barnyard Banter, check out these other books for babies and toddlers that feature noises and farm animals.

Caregivers of preschoolers may also want to check out the 2019 PA One Book for children ages 3 to 5.

Barnyard Banter

All the farm animals are where they should be, clucking and mucking, mewing and cooing, except for the missing goose. Also available in board book format.



Barnyard Dance

A bespectacled fiddle-playing cow and a pig twirling a sheep are featured in a barnyard dance.



Clip, Clop

A horse trots, a rooster struts, and a pig rambles, in a book that identifies the sounds each animal makes when they move.


Do Cows Meow?: A Lift-the-Flap Book

Young children can guess animal sounds by filling in the rhyming word at the end of a series of questions before lifting a flap to reveal the correct sound.


Farmyard Beat

The sounds of the farm animals create a lively beat that keeps Farmer Sue, the chicks, sheep, and other farm animals awake.


Hello Day!

Various animals greet the sunrise in their own unique voices, except for the owl who welcomes the night.


Honk, Honk! Baa, Baa!

Readers are invited to turn the pages to identify the different sounds animals make.



I Spy on the Farm

An interactive introduction to farm animals invites youngsters to make animal noises and practice color and letter recognition while peeping through a spy hole on every page and observing clues to guess which animal will be revealed next in the story.


Old MacDonald

An illustrated version of the children’s song that includes the ASL signs. Includes music on back cover.


Old MacDonald's Things That Go!

Old MacDonald and his farm animal friends introduce the numerous vehicles that are on the farm, from bicycles and tractors to buses, boats, and airplanes.


Say Hello Like This!

This lively split-page-format book shows how animals say hello with different sounds.


This Little Chick

A little chick shows that he can make the sounds of the animals in his neighborhood.