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Farm Life
Ada, Alma Flor, Zubizarreta, Rosa,
and Simon Silva, Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish
and English, Rayo, 2001. (Grades K-3)
Using the Spanish alphabet
as a template, Ada has written 27 poems that celebrate both
the bounty of the harvest and the Mexican heritage of the farmworkers
and their familiesetc. Silva's sun-drenched gouache paintings
are robust, with images sculpted in paint. Brimming with respect
and pride, the book, with its mythic vision of the migrant farm
worker, will add much to any unit on farming or Mexican American
heritage.
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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 involve - walking through
the spring mud from barn to barn carrying a bucket of feed,
a birds' 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. It is a touching
book written with love and realism describing a lifestyle that
has passed by.
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Avi, The Barn, Orchard, 1994.
(Grades 4-7)
The schoolmaster says nine-year-old
Benjamin is the finest student he's ever seen - fit for more
than farming; destined for great things someday. But his father's
grave illness brings Ben home,from school and compels him to
strive for something great right now - to do the one thing
that will please Father so much he'll want to live. But first
Ben must convince his older sister and brother to work with
him. And together, they succeed in ways they never dreamed
possible.
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Chitwood, Suzanne Tanner, Wake Up,
Big Barn, Cartwheel, 2002. (Grades preK-3)
A busy barn comes to life
through a series of invigorating torn-paper collages. "Wake
up, Big Barn!" A large red rooster, set against an expanse
of white, cock-a-doodle-doos across a two-page spread. Other
animals are introduced: the mule hee-haws; the cow moos; the
pigs, enjoying a mud bath, oink. Other farm elements are noisy,
too - the tractor chugs, and the cherries ping as they fall
to the ground. The book follows activities on the farm through
the day.
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Cummins, Julie, and Ted Rand, Country, Kid, City Kid, Henry Holt, 2002. (Grades PreK-3)
Ben lives on a farm with cows, horses and his dog. Jody lives in the city, surrounded by skyscrapers and crowded buses. Each spread shows Ben and his environment on the left and Jody and her surroundings on the right. Text describes daily activities. Near the end the two meet at camp and become friends.
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Denslow, Sharon Phillips,
and Lynne Rae Perkins, Georgie Lee, Greenwillow, 2002
(Grades 3-6)
Georgie
Lee is Grandma's cow, a smart cow, surprising J. D. with how
cleverly she gets rid of pesky flies. She's good at escaping
her pasture, ending up on Grandma's porch eating ears of fresh
corn out of a bowl. And she's the ghost that startles Grandma
and J.D. as they explore an abandoned house. But best of all,
she's the reason elderly neighbor Effie is saved after a fall
leaves her stranded in a field.
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Elliott, David, and Holly Meade, On
the Farm,
Candlewick, 2008.
From the bull to the barn cat to the wild bunny, the farmyard bustles
with life. The rooster crows, the rams clash, the bees buzz, and
over there in the garden, a snake — silent and alone — winds
and watches. David Elliott’s graceful, simple verse and Holly
Meade’s exquisite woodcut and watercolor illustrations capture
a world that is at once timeless yet disappearing from view — the
world of the family farm.
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Frasier, Debra, A Fabulous Fair Alphabet, Beach
Lane, 2010. (All Ages)
Brightly painted and collaged alphabet is also a homage to state
fairs everywhere.
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Friedrich, Elizabeth, and Michael
Garland, Leah's Pony, Boyds Mills, 1996. (Grades 3-5)
Amid the Dust Bowl of the
1930s, Leah's father is faced with the loss of the family farm
and puts his farm and equipment up for auction, but Leah comes
up with the money by selling her beloved pony.
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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.
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Hall, Donald, The Milkman's Boy, Walker, 1997.
(Grades preK-3)
Paul Graves is coming of
age during a time when horses and carriages shared roads with
Model Ts, and new technology changed old ways of doing things.
His father calls the new invention of pasteurization nothing
but a fad . . . until one day a fever strikes Paul's sister,
and his family learns a hard lesson about the need to balance
change and tradition.
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Hesse, Karen, Out of the Dust,
Scholastic, 1998. (Young Adult)
A poem cycle that reads
as a novel, "Out of the Dust" tells the story of Billie Jo,
a girl who struggles to help her family survive the dustbowl
years of the Depression. Fighting against the elements on her
Oklahoma farm, Billie Jo takes on even more responsibilities
when her mother dies in a tragic accident.
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Hodge, Deborah, and Brian Harris, Up We
Grow! A Year in the Life of a Small Local Farm, Kids Can, 2010. (Grades PreK-2)
Heartwarming photos invite children into the world of a small,
cooperative farm over four seasons. Readers get to know the hardworking
farmers as they plow, plant, compost, mulch, harvest and market
fruits and vegetables and care for animals.
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Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie, A
Farm of Her Own, Dutton, 2001. (Grades K-3)
Ten-year-old
city-dweller Emma spends a summer with Aunt Ada and Uncle Will
at Sunnyside Farm. Years later, Emma raises her own family
at the same farm.
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McMullan, Margaret, How I Found
the Strong, Houghton Mifflin, 2005. (Grades 6-12)
Ten-year-old Frank Russell
is left to run his family's small farm when his father and
brother go off to fight in the Civil War.
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Olson, Nathan, Farm Patterns, Capstone, 2007.
(Grades PreK-2)
A fence is an obvious choice for demonstating farm patterns, as
are rows of crops, but what about tractor tire treads? These are
but a few of the techniques employed to aid the reader in discovering
patterns in real life. Once patterns are simply defined, the text
takes the reader on a colorful romp through the world of farming
to find field and fence, machine and farm animal, actually helping
them build foundational math skills.
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Peterson, Cris, Century
Farm: One Hundred Years on a Family Farm, Boyd's Mills,
2009. (PreK-2)
A look at
a Wisconsin dairy farm owned by the same family for four generations.
The current owner tells the story and weaves family history
into the descriptions of early day operations. While the author
details the many changes that have taken place in the past
century, readers are also reminded that many things remain
the same. Vintage sepia photos of the farm and Peterson's grandparents
as well as good-quality, full-color contemporary photos enhance
the text. Interesting captions add even more information.
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Provensen, Alice,
and Martin Provensen, The Year at Maple Hill Farm, Sagebrush,
2001. (K-3)
In January,
the cows stay in the barnyard, and the chickens don't lay many
eggs. By March, you can tell spring is coming: the barn is
filled with baby animals. Month by month, the animals at Maple
Hill Farm sense the changing seasons and respond to the changes.
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Ray, Deborah Kogan, Lily's
Garden, Roaring Brook, 2002. (K-2)
After her
grandparents move from Maine to California, they send Lily
a box of oranges. From February's maple syrup, March's pea
planting, and April's daffodils to fall harvest and December's
tree hunt, the child goes through the seasons on the farm,
thinking about the activities she used to share with them.
Finally, the Christmas tree is decorated with the help of her
grandparents, who are back for the holidays. Each spread includes
a box with relevant information, such as how to make syrup,
pumpkin lore, and recipes for blueberry pancakes and zucchini
bread.
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Rosen, Michael, Our Farm: Four Seasons With
Five Kids on One Family's Farm, Darby Creek, 2008. (Young Adult)
Told through the voices of the children,
this inside view of life on their farm is authentic and sometimes
surprising. Readers will learn about baling hay, tending cattle,
work dogs, hunting, manure, and other activities on the Bennett
farm, as well as some insights into the culture of living in a
rural area.
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Rylant, Cynthia, and Nikki McClure, All
in a Day, Abrams, 2009.
(PreK-3)
A day is a perfect piece of time/ to live a life,/
to plant a seed, Newbery Medalist Rylant begins, as a young farm
boy ties one shoelace and a hen pecks at the other. The boy waters
his garden and gathers eggs, but also picnics, naps and, along
with his mother and the hen, stretches out on his back to gaze
up at the sky. "Underneath that great big sky/ the earth is all
a-spin./ This day will soon be over/ and it won't come back again."
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Schomp, Virginia, If You Were
a . . . Farmer, Benchmark, 2001. (Grades K-3)
Find out what a farmer's
life is like. Colorful pictures and easy text help paint a
picture farming and ranching life.
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Stevenson, Robert Louis, and Gyo Fujikawa, A
Child's Garden of Verses, Sterling, 2007. (Grades PreK-2)
The classic book of poems for children, originally
published in 1885, can be used to connect students with agriculture.
From golden apples to meadows or climbing cherry trees and enjoying
the activities of a cow, these poems celebrate 19th Century farm
life.
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Taylor, Mildred D., Roll of Thunder,
Hear My Cry, Puffin, 2004. (Grades 4-7)
Cassie's family faces a
real challenge: to hold on to land in the South during the
Depression. Her father works away from home and her mother
works and runs the family farm. Lynne Thigpen dramatizes this
excellent classic story of a black family's struggles to remain
independent and proud against all obstacles.
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Tolan, Stephanie, Surviving
the Applewhites, HarperCollins, 2002. (Grades 5-8).
Jake Semple,
13, has been expelled from a long line of schools before coming
to live in rural North Carolina with the eccentric Applewhite
clan. Jake is pushed into life on the Applewhite farm, Wit's
End, full of creative types, goats, and manic energy.
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Trumbauer, Lisa, Living in a Rural Area, Pebble, 2005. (Grades
2-5)
Life in a rural area, both farm and non farm. Identifies
farms and ranches and the types of agriculture they represent.
Introduces young readers to the concept of communities, what it's
like to live in different types of communities, and how each community
fits into the broader world.
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