Up We Grow!: A Year in the Life of a Small, Local Farm

Up We Grow!: A Year in the Life of a Small, Local Farm

Up We Grow! is an informative and inspiring book highlighting the importance of small, local farms.Heartwarming photos invite children into the world of a small, co-operative farm over four seasons. Readers will get to know the hardworking farmers who plow, plant, compost, mulch, harvest and market fruits and vegetables, and care for animals.Rarely has the important work of a farm been so lovingly presented in photos and text. The book focuses on production as well as the human interaction that makes up small-scale, local farm culture. Children will discover people of all ages and abilities working together to grow and share food, while protecting and respecting the land and animals we depend upon for our sustenance. Awareness continues to grow about the health and environmental benefits of choosing food that’s been grown locally and sustainably, and this title brings the trendy adult topic to a picture-book audience with a photo-essay about a year on a communal organic farm. Moving chronologically through the seasons, the spreads, illustrated with close-up color photographs, follow a small collective of farmers as they plant and nurture crops, tend to livestock, celebrate their harvest, and plan, during the cold winter months, for the next year. Filled with sensory descriptions, the rhythmic text gives a strong sense of life on the farm and in the field, and direct questions (“What kind of seed would you like to plant?”) create interactive opportunities for adults and kids to talk about each scene together. A final note fills in more detail about the key elements of sustainable agriculture. Pair this with Katie Smith Milway’s The Good Garden (2010), reviewed in this issue. Grades 1-3. --Gillian Engberg Filled with sensory descriptions, the rhythmic text gives a strong sense of life on the farm and in the field, and direct questions create interactive opportunities for adults and kids to talk about each scene together.― Booklist Deborah Hodge is a former educational consultant and curriculum designer and the author of the Kids Can Press Wildlife series. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. Brian Harris is an award-winning photographer with many years of experience in photography and project management for not-for-profit organizations such as FarmFolk/CityFolk. His photographs appear in Up We Grow! He is a proponent of sustainable living and makes his home in Vancouver, British Columbia.