Once Upon a Farm
Grade 4 Up-Artley's boyhood memories of farm life in Iowa are charmingly detailed in readable prose and fine watercolor paintings and sketches. Beginning in the spring, a season of "mud-frost-hope," the conversational essays recount the required tasks, some pleasant, many arduous, that were necessary to begin the cycle of life on the farm. Many of the illustrations include hand-printed captions that will have special appeal to young readers: "Before spring work began in the fields Dad gave the old Fordson its annual overhaul-and we kids got the old ball bearings which made wonderful steel marbles." The author also includes many details of everyday life, with a decidedly nostalgic eye: kerosene lamps, one-room schools, plowing roads after a snowstorm, early family automobiles, school programs, crank telephones, the supper table, and play activities. A bird's-eye view of barns, buildings, roads, equipment, gardens, trees, and animals is just one of many intriguing maps and cutaway drawings that readers will pore over. This is a beautiful book that progresses through the seasons, bringing to life an almost forgotten time. For reading or browsing, it's a delight.Lee Bock, Glenbrook Elementary School, Pulaski, WICopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.