Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom Extra Reading: Books for Teaching About Agriculture Crops Crops Corn Cotton Cranberries Forestry Grains Hay Peanuts Pecans Potatoes Sorghum Soybeans Sunflowers Wheat Crops Artley, Bob, Once Upon a Farm, Pelican, 2000. (Young Adult) The writer and illustrator grew up on an Iowa farm in the 1930s as the Age of the Horse was giving way to the Age of the Tractor. Detailed sketches and color drawings illustrate the work involved - walking through the spring mud from barn to barn carrying a bucket of feed, a bird's-eye view of the farmstead, cleaning oat seed with a hand-powered fanning mill, planting corn behind a team of horses, milking a cow the old-fashioned way, the details of a cream separator, threshers at harvest time and much more. Artley describes the hard work but also the fun. Cipriano, Jerry, Harvest Time, Red Bricklearning, 2003. (Grades PreK-2) Photographs and text depict how various fruits, vegetables or grains are grown, show the plant as it is either growing or ripe, and describes the harvest process. Hesser, Leon, The Man Who Fed the World: Nobel Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug and His Battle to End World Hunger, Durban House, 2006. (Young Adult) Nobel Prize winner for averting hunger and famine, Borlaug is credited with saving hundreds of millions from starvation. Peterson, Cris, Harvest Year, Boyd's Mills Press, 2009. (PreK - 2) In a month-by-month spread of vivid color photos and brief text, the author introduces the bounty of crops produced across the US. Each month is treated in two large pages that include a map highlighting the producing states, children enjoying one of the products, a picturesque crop in the field, and a piece of unusual machinery. The text contains interesting facts about foods familiar to the young. The author includes a list of briefly annotated books with an agricultural theme. Corn Aliki, Corn is Maize, Collins, 1986. (Grades PreK-2) Aliki tells the story of corn: How Native American farmers thousands of years ago found and nourished a wild grass plant and made it an important part of our lives. Basel, Roberta, From Corn to Cereal, Capstone, 2005. (Grades 2-5) Early reader book depicting corn from seed to consumer. All the images are of modern farm equipment and modern processing operations. Ends with a page on the Corn Palace of South Dakota, a glossary and recipe. DePaola, Tomie, The Popcorn Book, Holiday House, 1984. (Grades PreK-2) Fussell, Betty, The Story of Corn, UNM, 2004. (Grades 6-adult) A look at the history of corn and its impact on the world. The author examines the cultural influences and ways that corn has been woven into the culture of earlier American societies and the culture of today's civilizations. Corn as human food, animal feed, converted into alcohol and now as a renewable fuel is explored. The author weaves text, illustration, poetry and photos throughout the book. Gibbons, Gail, Corn, Holiday House, 2009. (Grades 2-5) Describes the difference between the four major types of corn and provides further descriptors of their individual uses. An illustration shows the process of fertilization of a single kernel on an ear. It also depicts the multiple uses for corn in food and non-food items. Landau, Elaine, Popcorn! Sagebrush, 2003. Picture book for older children offers popcorn facts and figures including the snack's Native American origins, the invention of the popping machine, and the popularity of popcorn during World War II, when sugar for other snack foods was in short supply. Brightly-colored acrylic illustrations enhance the humor of the text. A pesky raccoon character insinuates himself into nearly every picture, raiding the refrigerator, roasting corn over an open fire, and stealing the treat from humans. Mayo, Gretchen Will, and Susan Nations, Cereal, Weekly Reader, 2004. (Grades 2-4) Describes how wheat, rice, and other types of grain are grown, harvested, and made into breakfast cereals. Nelson, Robin, From Kernel to Corn, Lerner, 2003. (Grades PreK-2) Describes the process of corn production, including planting the kernels, tending and harvesting the crop, and transporting the corn to the grocery story. Nielsen, L. Michelle, Biography of Corn (How Did That Get Here?), Craptree, 2007. (Grades 4-6) Maize, or corn, was the staple food of many early cultures in South America, Mesoamerica and the Caribbean. This book shows how the farming of corn spread to the rest of the world. O'Malley, Kevin, Gimme Cracked Corn and I Will Share, Walker Books for Young Readers, 2007. (Grades PreK-2) Corny one-liners drive this slapstick fantasy, as two featherbrained hens cross the road to follow their dreams. Stevens, Jan Romero, Carlos and the Cornfield/Carlos y la milpa de maiz, Scholastic, 2000. (Grades 2-5) Picture book in English and Spanish describes how Carlos learns a life-long lesson affter planting corn for his father. Includes recipe for cornmeal pancakes. Trumbauer, Lisa, Corn, Red Bricklearning, 2005. (Grades 2-5) Early reader book about corn. Also available in Spanish. Weiss, Ellen, From Kernel to Corncob, Children's, 2007. (Grades PreK-3) Cotton Ballard, Carol, Grouping Materials: From Gold to Wool (Science Answers), Heinemann, 2003. (Grades 4-6) Students investigate the world of physical science and learn through experiments which materials are best to use in which situations and how important materials from plants and animals are to their daily activities. Denenberg, Barry, So Far From Home: The Diary of Mary Driscol, An Irish Mill Girl, Lowell Massachusetts, 1847, Scholastic, 2003. (Grades 4-7) Fourteen-year-old Mary Driscoll and her family have lived in terrible poverty in the Irish countryside since the potato famine began several years ago. When Mary is offered a chance to join her aunt and older sister in America, she jumps at the chance to seek a better life for herself. But after a long, stormy, and miserable ocean voyage, Mary arrives in America to find that it is nothing like she expected. She takes a job in a textile mill in Lowell, Massachusetts, where she is scorned by most of the American workers and expected to work long hours under terrible, unsafe conditions. There are few bright spots in this account of the life faced by many girls in New England cities during the mid-nineteenth century, and most of what happened to the fictional character of Mary happened to various girls who lived back then and worked in factories and mills. Dunagan, Ted M., A Yellow Watermelon, Junebug, 2007. (Young Adult) In rural south Alabama in 1948, whites picked on one side of the cotton field and blacks on the other. In Yellow Watermelon, 12-year-old Ted meets Poudlum, a black boy his own age, where the fields meet. Poudlum teaches Ted how to endure the hard work while they bond and go on to integrate the field. Gleason, Carrie, The Biography of Cotton (How Did That Get Here?), Crabtree, 2005. (Grades 4-6) From plant to T-shirt, this book follows the history of this natural fiber from its early beginnings in Pakistan and Peru to its world-wide use today. Color photos and maps describe the plant itself, as well as where and how it is produced. Historic black and white images help tell the story of the early cotton trade, highlighting slavery, child labor and the manufacturing process. Other topics include "What is a commodity?, how cotton was used in the ancient world, the history of cotton use, the textile industry, new technologies treated to harvest cotton and their effects on the rest of society, the lives of people on plantations, in the cotton fields and mill towns and cotton manufacturing around the world. Gunderson, Jessica, and Jerry Acerno, Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin, Capstone, 2007. (Grades 1-7) Uses comic book-style word balloons and sophisticated vocabulary to tell the story of Eli Whitney and the invention of the cotton gin. Explores the impact the cotton gin had on the Civil War and the ultimate emancipation of the slaves. Includes a timeline of advances made by Eli Whitney, a glossary and a recommended reading list. Hamilton, Virginia, The People Could Fly: The Picture Book, Knopf/Random House, 2005. (Grades 3-5) A group of African slaves working in cotton fields in America escape an abusive overseer through magic recalled from Africa. Hopkinson, Deborah, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, Knopf, 1995. (Grades K-3) As a seamstress in the Big House, Clara dreams of a reunion with her Momma, who lives on another plantation - and even of running away to freedom. Then she overhears two slaves talking about the Underground Railroad. In a flash of inspiration, Clara sees how she can use the cloth in her scrap bag to make a map of the land - a freedom quilt - that no master will ever suspect. Hopkinson, Deborah, and James E. Ransome, Under the Quilt of Night, Aladdin, 2005. (Grades K-5) Traveling late one night, a runaway slave girl spies a quilt hanging outside a house. The quilt's center is a striking deep blue - a sign that the people inside are willing to help her escape. Can she navigate the complex world of the Underground Railroad and lead her family to freedom? Hopkinson, Deborah, Up Before Day Break: Cotton and People in America, Scholastic Nonfiction, 2006. (Grades 4-8) Using primary sources and extended with black and white photos and period reproductions, this book provides a detailed picture of the effect of cotton production on the social structure of the US. From 1607, when the earliest English settlers arrived in Virginia, cotton was among the plants grown in colonial gardens. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution in England the demand increased, and the southern colonies stepped up production. Hopkinson explores the role of cotton production in the system of slavery and also considers the young women who worked in the textile factories. After the Civil War, the southern economy traded slavery for sharecropping and moved many of the mills were moved to the South. Following workers' histories up through the Great Depression, the final chapter discusses child labor, past and present. King, Hazel, Fabric Types (Trends in Textile Technology), Heinemann, 2001. (Young Adult) Featuring case studies and interviews, fact boxes, photographs and explanatory diagrams, topics include the manufacture, uses and care of different fibers and fabric types, fabric production techniques, including weaving, knitting, lace-making, dyes and decorative techniques; designing, cutting and making of garments; furnishings and accessories; the world of fashion and fashion designers, production techniques and the clothing industry. Macaulay, David, Mill, Graphia, 1989. (Young Adult) Macaulay pays tribute to the historically important mills of 19th Century New England. Using close-up pen-and-ink illustrations, he thoroughly explains the Yankee ingenuity that went into the elaborate process of running machines that were generated by the flow of water. He also examines the importance of the mill to one community's economic and social viability. Masters, Nancy Robinson, The Cotton Gin, Children's, 2006. (Grades 4-6) Moore, Heidi, The Story Behind Cotton (True Stories), Heinemann Library, 2009. (Grades 5-6) Nelson, Robin, From Cotton to T-Shirt (Start to Finish), Lerner, 2003. (Grades 1-5) Shows how T-shirts are made and includes several stages in the manufacturing process, such as close-ups of thread making, mechanical weaving, dyeing and cutting. Paterson, Katherine, Bread and Roses, Too, Sandpiper, 2008. (Grades 4-6) Paterson has drawn upon the facts of the famous 1912 Bread and Roses strike in he mills of Lawrence, MA, and the sympathetic response of the citizens of Barre, VT, to tell the story of two children enmeshed in complex events. Paterson, Katherine, Lyddie, Puffin, 2004. (Young Adult) Lyddie Worthen must decide whether to risk losing her job running a loom at a dusty Massachusetts factory - a job she has taken to earn enough money to reunite her family - by protesting the poor working conditions. Paulsen, Gary, The Quilt, Random House, 2005. (Grades 3-8) A young boy learns the stories of his Norwegian American family as told through a quilt created by women left at home during wartime in 1944. Storey, Rita, Wool and Cotton (How We Use Materials), Smart Apple, 2007. (Grades 4-6) Williams, Sherley Anna, Working Cotton, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1996. (Grades preK-3) Shelan, the young child of two migrant workers, follows her parents into the fields to help them pick cotton during a long day of work, in a dramatically illustrated study of migrant family life. Winthrop, Elizabeth, Counting on Grace, Wendy Lamb, 2006. (Young Adult) Inspired by a Lewis Hine photo of a child at work in a Vermont cotton mill in the early 20th Century, Winthrop imagines the story of Grace, 12, torn from her one-room schoolhouse and forced to work long hours in the textile mill as a "doffer," turning cotton into thread, alongside her mother, in the spinning room. The story explores the dangerous working conditions and the work of activists who sought to publicize the abuse. Woodson, Jacqueline, and Hudson Talbott, Show Way, Putnam, 2005. (Grades K-5) A Show Way is a quilt with secret meanings, and the image works as both history and metaphor in this picture book. Based on Woodson's own history, the story is of African American women across generations, from slavery and the civil rights movement to the present. Growing up on a plantation in South Carolina, Soonie learns from Big Mama about children "growing up and getting themselves free," and also how to sew quilts with signs that show the way to freedom. Forestry Flatt, Lizann, Life in a Forestry Community (Learn About Rural Life), Crabtree, 2009. (Grades 4-6) Overview of what it's like to live in a rural community that depends on the forestry industry. Includes an index, glossary and bibliography, including web sites. King, Zelda, Examining Forest Habitats (Graphic Organizers, Habitats), PowerKids, 2009. (Grades 4-8) Kirkland, Jane, Take a Tree Walk (Take a Walk Series), Stillwater, 2002. (Grades 4-6) Exploring the world of trees on foot, children learn to identify different species and various parts of a tree, why trees turn colors in autumn, how to estimate the height and age of a tree, what trees need to survive and the important role trees play in our lives. Leavell, Chuck, and Nicholas Cravotta, The Tree Farmer, VSP, 2005. A grandfather who owns a tree farm takes his grandson on a magical journey through the forest, where trees become musical intruments, books, a baby's crib and more. The story explains the vital role that trees play in our lives, providing us with the wood for our homes, furniture and other products, and mankind's responsibility to protect and care for them. Marshall, Pam, From Tree to Paper, Lerner, 2002. (Grades PreK-3) Early reader book that begins with replanting a forest to foster the concept of trees as a renewable resource. Excellent photos depict modern production and processing from tree to paper. Includes a glossary. Pfeffer, Wendy, and Robin Brickman, A Log's Life, Aladdin, 2007. (Grades K-3) After an oak tree falls in the forest, it has another life as home to a variety of creatures. As it decays over time, it provides food and shelter to porcupines, ants, mushrooms, salamanders, and many others, until it eventually turns into a mound of rich black earth. Very young children love spotting the animals as they learn about the life cycle of a tree. Full color. Purmell, Ann, Christmas Tree Farm, Holiday House, 2006. (Grades 2-6) A comprehensive look at Christmas tree farming that examines the production and marketing of Christmas trees. It begins with harvest on a family-owned Christmas tree farm but progresses to planting tree seedlings in the spring. It includes tree trimming and examines the benefits of tree farming to wildlife. Wallace, Marianne D., American Forests: Guide to Plants and Animals, Fulcrum, 2009. (Grades 4-6) Description of many different kinds of forests, forest layers, changing seasons and forest habitat. Winter, Jeanette, The Christmas Tree Ship, Guest Cottage, 2002. (Grades K-3) Winter relates the tale of a young schooner captain who traveled treacherous Lake Michigan each year at Christmas to supply Chicagoans with spruce trees for their holiday celebrations. When his boat was lost during one particularly bad winter, his wife and family chose to honor his memory and celebrate the holiday by continuing the tradition he started. Grains Mayo, Gretchen Will, and Susan Nations, Cereal, Weekly Reader, 2004. (Grades 2-4) Describes how wheat, rice, and other types of grain are grown, harvested, and made into breakfast cereals. Wolfman, Judy, and David Lorenz Winston, Life on a Crop Farm, Lerner, 2002. (Grades K-4) Hay Artley, Bob, Once Upon a Farm, Pelican, 2000. (Young Adult) The writer and illustrator grew up on an Iowa farm in the 1930s as the Age of the Horse was giving way to the Age of the Tractor. Detailed sketches and color drawings illustrate the work involved - walking through the spring mud from barn to barn carrying a bucket of feed, a bird's eye view of the farmstead, cleaning oat seed with a hand-powered fanning mill, planting corn behind a team of horses, milking a cow the old-fashioned way, the details of a cream separator, threshers at harvest time and much more. Artley describes the hard work but also the fun. Geisert, Bonnie, Haystack, Houghton Mifflin, 2003. (Grades K-3) Beginning with details about mowing, drying and tromping hay, the narrative moves on to explain the haystack's important purposes: to provide food, and a shelter from the wind for cows during the winter; during warmer weather, to serve as a resting and feeding place for pigs. In return, the animals' manure is used as fertilizer for the next year's hay, thus continuing the cycle. Peanuts Keller, Kristin Thoennes, From Peanut to Peanut Butter, First Facts, 2004. (Grades 2-5) Micucci, Charles, The Life and Times of the Peanut, Sandpiper, 2000. (Grades 4-7) What are peanuts - are they peas or are they nuts? Do they grow above or below ground? Who invented peanut butter? This picture book, with its concise, detailed text and abundant illustrations, ranging from the humorous to the scientific, offers a spirited introduction to the life cycle, many uses, and historical influences of the peanut. Monroe, Judy, George Washington Carver: Scientist and Inventor, Capstone, 2005. (Grades 1-8) Tells the story of George Washington Carver, with black and white photos. Nelson, Marilyn, Carver: A Life in Poems, Front Street, 2001. (Young Adult) In this biography in poems, Nelson traces the life of George Washington Carver, from his recovery after being kidnapped in infancy to his death. The life in between is characterized by hard work, intellectual curiosity, personal humility, devotion to the betterment of black Americans, enormous self-possession, and practical Christian piety. Nelson, Robin, From Peanut to Peanut Butter, Lerner, 2004. (Grades PreK-3) Depicts the whole plant with the peanuts attached at the roots, harvesting, sorting, roasting and peanut butter making. Includes a glossary. Olson, Nathan, George Washington Carver: Ingenious Inventor, Capstone, 2006. (Grades 1-7) Comic book-style word balloons tell the story of George Washington Carver, beginning with his life as a slave, his mother's kidnapping and his adoption by the Carvers, his education and his success as an inventor. Includes a timeline of his life, a glossary and recommended reading list. Pecans Goodman, Barbara, The Missing Pecan, AuthorHouse, 2004. (Grades PreK-2) Two young squirrels race each other to see who can find the most pecans and make it back home first with them. Unable to carry all of them, one of the squirrels hides one of his nuts and plans to come back later. Good intro to trees and their growth process. Hughes, Meredith Sayles, Hard to Crack: Nut Trees, Lerner, 2001. (Grades 5-7) Following an introduction that offers general botanical information, Hughes tells the history and provides agricultural and botanical information for each plant subject in this series. Chapters are illustrated with clear color and black-and-white photographs, reproductions, and drawings. Various cooking methods around the world are discussed. Kelly, Jacqueline, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, Henry Holt, 2009. (Grades 5-8) Growing up with six brothers on a Texas cotton and pecan farm in 1899, 12-year-old Callie prefers to spend her time exploring the river, observing animals and keeping notes on what she sees. Her love of nature creates a bond with her grandfather. After they discover a previously unknown species of vetch, he attempts to have it officially recognized. Through this experience she decides she wants to be a scientist, although societal expectations make this dream seem impossible. Interwoven with the scientific theme are threads of daily life in a large family growing up on a farm. Stewart, Edna, The Call of the Christmas Pecan Tree, Dorrance, 2008. In a small town by the seashore stands a lonely-hearted pecan tree. Though the tree has long received love and attention from the people of the town, it is scheduled for removal, and town is thrown into turmoil. Tafolla, Carmen, and Sharyll Tenayuca and Terry Ybanez, That's Not Fair!/No Es Justo!: Emma Tenayuca's Struggle for Justice/La lucha de Emma Tenayuca por la justicia, Wings, 2008. (Grades 2-6) Picture book biography in English and Spanish relates the struggle of Mexican American farmworkers in the early 20th Century through the perspective of Emma Tenayuca, who became a labor activist. Growing up in San Antonio in the early 20th Century, Tenayuca was shocked by the inequality around her, comparing her comfortable home with the extreme poverty of factory and farmworkers. She spoke in public about the plight of the pecan shellers in the factories and led 12,000 workers in a strike that forced factory owners to raise wages. Includes a chapter on child labor. Potatoes Bartoletti, Susan Campbell, Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850. Houghton-Mifflin, 2001. (Grades 4-6) In 1845, a mysterious blight attacked the potato crops in Ireland, turning the potatoes black and destroying the only real food of nearly six million people. Over the next five years, the blight attacked again and again. These years are known today as the Great Irish Famine, a time when one million people died from starvation and disease and two million more fled their homeland. Black Potatoes is the story of men, women, and children who defied landlords and searched empty fields for scraps of harvested vegetables and edible weeds to eat, who walked several miles each day to hard-labor jobs for meager wages and to reach soup kitchens, and who committed crimes just to be sent to jail, where they were assured of a meal. It is the story of children and adults who suffered from starvation, disease, and the loss of family and friends, as well as those who died. Illustrated with black and white engravings. Sorghum Mead, Alice, Year of No Rain, Dell, 2005. (Grades 4-8) In the spring of 1999, hunger and thirst are constant companions to 11-year-old Stephen and his family and friends in southern Sudan as they struggle to keep their fields of sorghum and maize alive. When bombs explode in their small village, Stephen's mother tells him and his friends to quickly pack, and they run and hide, leaving with few possessions. Soybeans Bial, Raymond, The Super Soybean, Albert, Whitman and Company, 2007. (Grades 2-6) This book captures the A-Z of soybeans - how soybeans are grown, harvested, chipped and marketed. It describes how soybeans are used for other purposes, like crayons, ink, fuel, plastics and soap. Also describes the history and origins of the soybean in China and how they came to grow so plentifully in the US. Sunflowers Tagliaferro, Linda, The Life Cycle of a Sunflower, Capstone, 2007. (Grades PreK-2) This early reader book captures the development of the sunflower, from seed, through germination, growth, flower development and pollination and on to seed development. Excellent for teaching the life cycle of a plant. Includes a glossary. Wheat Finch, Mary, and Elisabeth Bell, Little Red Hen and the Ear of Wheat, Barefoot, 2001. (Grades PreK-1) A rooster and a mouse live with the Little Red Hen and lazily refuse to help do the chores necessary to turn a grain of wheat into a loaf of bread. When, in turn, the Little Red Hen won't share the fruits of her solitary labor, the shirkers learn their lesson and, in this story, get a second chance. Next time the hen finds a grain of wheat, both rooster and mouse are there to help and to enjoy the delicious reward. Galdone, Paul, Nursery Classics: A Galdone Treasury, Houghton Mifflin, 2004. (Grades K-3) Includes Galdone's classic versions of The Three Little Pigs, The Little Red Hen, The Three Bears and The Cat Goes Fiddle Dee Dee. Fowler, Allan, and Allen Fowler, The Wheat We Eat, Scholastic, 2000. (Grades 1-2) Discusses the growing, processing, and eating of wheat from the Rookie Read About Science series. Hesser, Leon, The Man Who Fed the World: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug and His Battle to End World Hunger, Durban House, 2006. (Grades 6 and up) Well-researched book details the life of Norman Borlaug and his world-changing life's work. Borlaug developed the short variety wheat that would start the "Green Revolution." These miracle wheat varieties would lead Mexico, Pakistan and India from the edge of starvation in the 60s to self sufficiency in grain production. Lackey, Jennifer D.B., The Biography of Wheat (How Did That Get Here?), Crabtree, 2007. The growing of wheat as a staple food made permanent settlements possible, particularly for settlers moving west. In this book, students learn how one of the most important crops is grown, harvested, sold and processed. Landau, Elaine, Wheat, Scholastic, 2000. (Grades 3-5) The history, cultivation, and uses of wheat - from the True Book Series. Levensen, George, Wheat Comes to Life: A Garden of Wheat and a Loaf to Eat, Tenspeed, 2004. (Grades PreK - 2) Beginning with a patch of wheatgrass in his backyard, the author takes readers on a tour of bread made from scratch. He makes numerous stops along the way—a thresher, a grinder, a doughy combination of flour, water, yeast, and oil—before reaching the final destination: a freshly baked loaf of whole wheat bread. Mayo, Gretchen Will, and Susan Nations, Cereal, Weekly Reader, 2004. (Grades 2-4) Describes how wheat, rice, and other types of grain are grown, harvested, and made into breakfast cereals. Pinckney, Jerry, The Little Red Hen, Dial, 2006. (PreK and up.) Unlike other recent authors who try to soften the story’s moral — that if you don’t help make the bread, you won’t get to eat it— Pinkney trusts his audience to understand. Randall, Alison L., and Bill Farnsworth, The Wheat Doll, Peachtree, 2008. Mary Ann lives in rugged Utah Territory, doing her daily chores such as tending the vegetable garden and braiding rags into rugs. Her best friend is her beloved homemade wheat-filled doll. One day a severe storm forces Mary Ann's family into the cabin before she can retrieve her doll from the garden. When the storm passes she is heartbroken to find the doll is gone. When winter turns to spring, she makes a surprising discover, a patch of wheat growing in the shape of her doll. Schwartz, Roslyn, The Mole Sisters and the Wavy Wheat, Annick, 2000. (Preschool) The mole sisters always go left, so they decide to go right instead. They find themselves in a field of wavy wheat and decide to go up, all the way to the top. Optimistic and resourceful, the mole sisters find their way out of various predicaments. Snyder, Inez, Wheat, Children's, 2004. (Grades PreK-2) Introduces wheat, from the time it is planted in a field until it is made into different foods - From the Harvesttime Series. Waxman, Laura Hamilton, W.K. Kellogg (History Maker Bios), Lerner, 2006. (Grades 4-6) Yolen, Jane, and Greg Shed, Harvest Home, Harcourt, 2002. In rhythmic verse, with the responsive refrain "Bringing the harvest home," young Bess tells of reaping the season's wheat at the end of a bountiful summer of planting. The work is hard and the heat is relentless, but the family forges ahead, anticipating the end of their labors and the celebratory meal for all of the friends and family who have helped. The book concludes with a brief summary of harvest customs around the world and simple instructions for fashioning a harvest doll. Recommend a book. Back to Ag-Related Books for Children and Young Adults Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom is a program of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and the Oklahoma State Department of Education.