FICTION – all books are rated 1, 2, 3 or 4 as determined by The Horn Book Guide
This list is divided into sections: Picture Books, Easy Readers, Younger, Intermediate and Older.
PICTURE BOOKS
Cornfield Hide-and Seek by Christine Widman
Farrar/Kroupa © 2003
One oppressively hot summer day nobody wants to do chores, so the entire “sundazzled” family ends up hanging out in the cool green cornfield. The story romps along with dialogue in a down-home dialect (“My oh me. The sun’s a blazin’, the chickens are flappin’, the cow’s a –lollin’, my butter beans need eatin’, and the kidlins are in the cornfield”) and colorful, homespun-looking illustrations.
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 0-374-31547-7
Cow by Malachy Doyle
McElderry © 2002
In this second-person account of a day in the life of a cow, a dairy cow comes in from the fields for milking, grazes, wanders down to the river for a drink, and passes the hours until it’s time for the evening milking.
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 0-689-84462-X
Emma’s Cold Day by Margriet Ruurs
Stoddart © 2002
Her chicken coop becomes unusually cold one day, so Emma tries – unsuccessfully – to get warm by imitating the other barnyard animals. After the farm family finds her huddled outside their window, illuminated by the outdoor Christmas lights, the farmer suddenly remembers to turn on the heat lamps in her coop.
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 0-7737-3314-0
First Day in Grapes by L. King Perez
Lee © 2002
Because his papa is a migrant farm worker, Chico has attended numerous California schools, and he finds it difficult to be a new kid so often. However, on his first day in third grade, he uses his mathematical expertise to face down two fourth-grade bullies, and things begin to look up.
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 1-58430-045-0
Full Moon Barnyard Dance by Carole Lexa Schaefer
Candlewick © 2003
Packed with animal sounds, repetition, alliteration, and onomatopoeia, this text is an enjoyable read-aloud. Night sounds draw a barnyard full of animals out to dance, but darkness leads to confusion over partners. The night-toned illustrations feature friendly, animated animals.
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 0-7636-1878-0
Harvest Home by Jane Yolen
Harcourt/Silver Whistle © 2002
In rhyming verse, a girl and her family work to harvest wheat. An impressive amount of information about harvesting before the advent of farm machinery is conveyed by the verse.
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 0-15-201819-0
Hello, Harvest Moon by Ralph Fletcher
Clarion © 2003
One autumn evening, “something is stirring / at the edge of the world. / Something is rising / low in the trees.” A girl watches as the harvest moon fills the night with its magical glow. The lyrical text of this companion to Twilight Comes Twice describes the impact of the full moon on plants, animals, the ocean, etc.
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 0-618-16451-0
Mary Had a Little Ham by Margie Palatini
Hyperion © 2003
Mary’s pig Stanley Snoutowski is too talented to stay down on the farm, so she sends him off to Broadway to pursue an acting career. Stanley struggles as a singing waiter and cab driver, until his big break comes when famous producers Hoggers and Hammerswine climb into his cab.
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 0-7868-0566-8
Minnie’s Diner: A Multiplying Menu by Dayle Ann Dodds
Candlewick © 2004
The concept of doubling goes down easy in this combination of multiplication facts, rhyme, humor – and diner foods. One by one, the McFay brothers abandon their farm chores and head for the diner, each orders what the previous brother did, but “make it a double.” The appropriately exaggerated illustrations double the fun as they play with numbers and size.
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 0-7636-1736-9
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