A real farm girl
Contributors: James Rozak (Illustrator)
Publisher: Hodgepog Books
Published: September 1, 1998
Format: Paper
Number of pages: 123
ISBN-13: 9781895836523
Genres: Juvenile Fiction
First sentence: (From Chapter 1, The Special Kiss)

"Wake up, Mary. We're getting off the train."
Description: In A Real Farm Girl, author Susan Ioannou tells the story of a young city girl's adventures while visiting her grandmother's farm in the 1940s. Mary wants to prove that she can handle farm chores. She helps her Uncle Louis collect eggs from the chicken coop, milk the cows, and feed the pigs. The chores are not as easy as she thought. She gets pecked by the chickens, is chased by a bull, and has a manure mishap. But she doesn't give up. Parents and kids will enjoy Mary's antics and her determination to become a real farm girl.
Notes: A Real Farm Girl was written for children ages 8-10 to enjoy, but also to learn about Canada's rural past. How did it feel to work and play in a time before surfing the Web and video games were invented? Were children then the same or different? What made them happy or sad? By giving each character a unique voice, and building scenes with vivid settings and action, Susan Ioannou has brought an earlier era to life. "It's just like a movie inside my head," said one young fan. 

A Real Farm Girl can be read as a continuing story, or in single episodes. Each chapter is long enough for a parent, teacher, or librarian to share out loud, and short enough for an eager young reader to tackle alone.
Table of contents: title: http://www3.sympatico.ca/susanio/novel.html#chapters