Further Adventures in Barn Town

Author: Eve Culley
Genre: Children

​Written in a feline narrative by a life-long resident, Ol’ Stripe (Deputy of Barn Town) shares with the reader the highlights of life in Barn Town – a barn situated on a large farm. Deputy Stripe does all he can to keep his eyes and ears open in order to maintain peace and order, with a hilarious outcome.

Reviewer: Gee Dixon

The story is told by a gray striped cat named Stripe. The story goes through the different animals in Barn Town. Their different accents are apparent in the story. This book being a Chapter book is great for the kiddos that are ready to try out a chapter book and it has real life photos of the animals which is neat.  I give this book 5 stars.

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Reviewer: Hanna Olson

Reading Further Adventures in Barn Town has the most delightful effect of transporting the reader to a place where anything is possible, and the lives of pets and farm animals are far more interesting than imagined. The whimsical tale of Deputy Snipe and his friends at Barn Town gives much enjoyment as the reader is introduced to one memorable character after another. Each chapter brings with it a “daily life on the farm” problem that the dutiful deputy has to solve.

From the start, the front cover of Further Adventures in Barn Town is eye-catching in a way that makes the viewer curious about the eye-patched cat. The illustrations in this book are mostly real photographs of farm animals, which brings the story to a level of intimacy with the characters, though some pictures didn’t match the animal described and the occasional clipart image threw the story off a bit as it seemed out of place.

Although not part of the story, the dedication that the author includes is a nice glimpse of warmth and humor that feels somehow like a welcome mat into the story.

There is some editing that needs to be done, and chapter one was difficult to follow, but by the time we hit chapter three, the story had a nice flow that continued until the last chapter where the perspective makes a sudden shift to another character. Also, the descriptive language used in this final chapter is drastically different from the rest of the story, and  the reader may get thrown for a loop.

However, this book is highly enjoyable and has an interesting plot with lovable characters. There is a good message throughout about family, belonging, and purpose but there is no clear Christian language or theme. Overall, it left this reader with a whole new appreciation for barn life and inclined to never look at her own farm the same way again. I definitely recommend this children’s book and am already looking forward to the third installment from this author. 

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Reviewer: Margaret Welwood

Meet Stripe, the soft-hearted, tough talking guard cat of Barn Town. I’m not sure how Eve Culley does it, but I can hear this tomcat’s voice as he patrols his territory, sounding like some gumshoe from an old movie. Law enforcement personnel and outlaws, humor and pathos, merriment and mayhem—all have their place in this Barn Town mosaic. I believe this story will foster empathy in children, and perhaps inspire them to make up their own stories about animals they know.

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