The Farmer in the Dell product reviews

Given that most children's picture books are around the $20 mark to buy $22 for a book and CD is a bargain. The Farmer in the Dell is a song that has be sung for generations and I have fond memories of dancing to it when I was at school.

Miss 6 immediately recognised it when she saw the book. She said they hadn't had it at school but I suspect they did. My girls had no idea what the instrument on the front cover was but thought a guitar drum would be cool. After educating them about banjos I started reading the book. As hard as I tried I could not read it without singing it. This started the kids giggling but they soon joined in the song. It is such a catchy tune it is hard not to.

The illustrations Jenny Cooper has done in this book are brilliant the hound in particular has some fantastic facial expressions and had Miss 4.5 in hysterics. We either own or have borrowed from the library the other three books Jenny has done with The Topp Twins: There's a Hole in My Bucket, Do Your Ears Hang Low? and She'll be Coming Round the Mountain. All are popular with the kids.

When I first played the CD my husband said "You can definitely tell it is The Topp Twins singing," and he is right they have a distinctive voice but it is perfect for The Farmer in the Dell. I couldn't imagine anyone else doing it as well as they do. My kids all enjoyed dancing and singing to it.

I would love to see the Topp Twins put out a CD of their kids songs. This would be great for long car trips as they are songs we all know and would singalong to.

When my daughter realised that we owned two of the other books also sung by the Topp Twins she was over the moon. They both knew what to expect and could not wait to put the CD on. We received this just before taking my eldest to school so the plan was to take in the car, unfortunately with the morning rush we completely forgot and so had to wait until today to play it.

Yesterday I sang the song to my youngest and she loved it. Ended up reading it at least five times and by the second time she was finishing most of the sentences. I would point to the picture and she would say what it was. The pictures are fantastic - so clear and so much fun. By the time my husband got home my three year old was doing it by herself and she could not wait to sing it to her daddy - which was sooooooooooo cute!!!!

To be honest I was a little concerned about playing the CD as the other ones we own, we got rather sick of it after the second go but they are spot on with this one. It is perfect for the Topp Twins. This has to be my favourite of all of them and like the added whistles and comments they add in. We played it over and over again and we were all singing along. There is also an instrumental option on the CD which has the occasional hollar or whistle which did get a little annoying so we just played track 1.

I personally did not remember the song, except for the first part 'The farmer in the dell, the farmer in the dell, heigh ho the merry o, the farmer in the dell'. So it was great for me also cause I got to learn it along with the girls. I think this will be a favourite for some time to come.