In My Backyard by Valarie Giogas and illustrated by Katherine Zecca is a wonderful counting and rhyming book for ages four to eight. Familiar wild backyard animals from foxes to squirrels are featured. If your child is like my daughter Lucie, baby animals are the coolest thing around. So I liked how each animal is shown by baby as well as family group name.

Each stanza gives readers information on the animals including including what they eat, where they live, or what kind of noise they make. So not only are you getting an entertaining story, but your children are learning about wildlife that’s all around us.

As with all Sylvan Dell Publishing children’s books, there’s also a “For Creative Minds” section. It includes animal facts, how to watch for signs of wildlife, and what to do if you find an injured animal.

So what kind of animals are in your backyard?

We have our neighborhood cat, the occasional rattlesnake under the deck, birds, and a zillion grasshoppers, flies, and mosquitos. Nearby we have foxes, prairie dogs, and frogs in the pond at the golf course. Some folks even have toads living in their window wells. Our neighbors had a garter snake living in theirs.

We also have lots of wasps that we have to watch out for when we pick blackberries. The challenging thing about berries is that you have to part the bushes, which are full of thorns, to get at all the berries. But we managed to pick enough to make a blackberry cobbler.

(Local Harvest is a great online resource to find farms and farmers’ markets in your area. If you don’t have a gigantic blackberry bush in your backyard like we do, find a place to go berry picking!)

Blackberries from My Backyard Cobbler
(Based on Easy Blackberry Cobbler and Raspberry Peach Cobbler)

Ingredients:

1. 1 qt. (4 c.) freshly picked blackberries
2. 1 c. sugar
3. 1 c. flour 
4. 1 stick butter
5. 1 c. milk
6. 1 tsp. vanilla extract
7. 1 pinch salt
8. 2 tsp. baking powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt butter in 13 x 9 inch pan. Put the timer on and check every 10-15 minutes so you don’t forget and accidently burn the butter.
3. Combine sugar, flour, milk, extract, salt, and baking powder.
4. Pour mixture over melted butter.
5. Sprinkle in berries (do not stir) with your hand. Make sure the berries are evenly placed all over the dish.
6. Bake 1 hour. Flour mixture crust magically rise to the surface and brown.
7. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

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