I had meant to get rid of some books at a book fair Saturday, but that didn't end up happening. I had meant to not bring home new books, but I'm weaker willed than I thought.

Sometimes picking up a book you've just skimmed through is a bad idea. You get it home and realize that it's full of stuff you'd rather not read to your kids, or it's just boring and tedious. Not so with this one!

It is a big long, and more suited for the older end of the 4 - 8 (or even older) range, but if they can sit through it's it's a great big whopper of a tale about how a tornado "sucks up" the McBroom farm, with all its tomatoes (they turn to ketchup, of course), and how for a while afterward the family gathers up all sorts of fanciful critters like a "hidebehind". Of course, it's all true! Don't you know McBroom would rather sit on a porcupine than tell a lie? (Of course he DOES sit on a porcupine at the end. LOL!)

Very funny, and I adore the illustrations. Definitely pick up this book. I intend to get more in the series! ( )

This is kind of a long story for little children, but a good read for older 2nd and 3rd grade children. A man and his family lose their farm to a tornado. They chase the tornado to try to get their crops back, but can't. On the way home, the two boys start finding allkinds of weird animals that were misplaced by the tornado. So instead of having a farm full of vegetables the family now has a farm full of weird animals to make their money. This is how it becomes McBrooms Zoo.