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
Poultrygeist by Mary Jane Auch
Holiday © 2003
Rowdy roosters Rudy and Ralph cause a lot of barnyard racket, disturbing Clarissa the cow and Sophie the pig. As all the animals prepare for a Halloween parade, a ghostly figure appears in the barn, and the two noisy roosters fear that they’ve awoken the fabled “poultrygeist.”
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 0-8234-1756-5
Pumpkin Day! By Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
Cavendish © 2002
Pumpkin Day in this rabbit family entails a visit to a local farm where they learn about the fruit’s life cycle, care, varieties, and other pumpkin lore couched in a somewhat forced story line. The clear and colorful cut-paper collage illustrations are the main attraction here, and pumpkin recipes included throughout add to the book’s usefulness.
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 0-7614-5128-5
Rooster Can’t Cock-a-Doodle-Doo by Karen Rostoker-Gruber
Dial © 2004
Rooster wakes up with a sore throat and a big problem. How will the chores get done if he can’t crow and wake up Farmer Ted? The other animals are quick with puns, but no one has a solution. Finally, everyone pitches in to help (with a lot of fooling around along the way).
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 0-8037-2877-8
Seeds! Seeds! Seeds! By Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
Cavendish © 2004
In a package from Gramps, Buddy Bear finds five bags for five days worth of activities. He starts a seed collection, fills a bird feeder, and plants some grass seed in a container with a face on it so the growing grass looks like hair.
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 0-7614-5159-5
The Greatest Potatoes by Penelope Stowell
Hyperion/Jump © 2005
This story recounts the accidental invention of the potato chip – created by a fry cook as a practical joke on a customer who kept sending back his potatoes.
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 0-7868-5113-9
The Pickle Patch Bathtub by Frances Kennedy
Tricycle © 2004
It’s 1925, and Donna needs $10.75 for a bathtub (she’s outgrown the washtub), but her Missouri farm family can’t afford one. So she and her siblings earn the cash by growing cucumbers to sell for pickling. This tale of delayed gratification is leavened with humor and child-pleasing collage art.
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 1-58246-112-0
The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis
Scholastic/Orchard © 2003
Costumed brothers have discovered an enormous pumpkin at the top of a hill. They snip the vine sending the pumpkin careening toward their farm below. As the orange monster rolls toward them, family members envision delicious delicacies instead of fleeing. Eventually the squash is wedged into Granny’s kitchen, whereupon a pumpkin-based Halloween feast is prepared.
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 0-439-43974-4
The Serious Farm by Tim Egan
Houghton © 2003
Edna the cow, tired of the lack of levity on the farm, wants to shake things up a bit: “We’ve got to get Farmer Fred to laugh. I mean, it’s okay to be serious, but not all the time.” Everyone agrees to try, cracking themselves up in the process. But not Farmer Fred. When the animals leave in disgust, Fred (who’s serious, not heartless) lightens up…but just a bit.
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 0-618-22694-X
Paul Gallico’s The Small Miracle by Bob Barton, Reteller
Holt © 2003
Barton retells Gallico’s short story of a boy determined to do whatever it takes to heal his sick donkey. The retelling is much abbreviated but uses some of the original text and maintains the spirit of the original tale.
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 0-8050-6745-0
Sweet Potato Pie by Kathleen D. Lindsey
Lee © 2003
Energetic acrylic paintings enhance this story of an African-American family that saves their farm by selling sweet potato pies at the local Harvest Celebration. In a well-paced narrative, eight-year-old Sadie tells the story of each family member’s contribution.
Recommended Age Range: Picture Book
ISBN: 1-58430-061-2
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