About a decade ago, I was taking some kids on a know-your-farm visit. My eyes were mentally slurping a ripening bhutta in the field when a kid I was with shrieked ‘Oh my god, is that the corn on the cob which we have in the mall?’ My heart immediately sank and, in my head, sang the latter half of Old MacDonald had a Farm (sad version).
And then I complimented the child on spotting the right connection. All those pieces I’d read, claiming that kids learn by feeling through their senses, that kids who play about in mud, close to nature, develop an early appreciation for it, made sense that very moment.
Recently, I tuned into a Twitter on green books for kids, featuring stories on farms and climate change. In Australia, rural romances are supposed to have overtaken other genres in fiction, even for adults.
So here is a multilingual list from around the world to dip into with city-bred children, so that they can learn a little about the rural world they never encounter first-hand. Sure, it may be too hot to head out to a farm, unless it is in the mountains – but it is never too warm to snuggle with a kid and read a story together.
A Cafecito Story, J. Alvarez
This book’s been written by J for Julia, who, along with her American husband, operates a small organic coffee farm in the Dominican Republic. They also run a school where both kids and adults learn to read and write.
This slim book is a near autobiographical fable of a boy called Joe, a son of a farmer, involving a journey he takes and how it changes his life. It includes woodcuts by a well-known local artist and is usually found in worldwide alternative stores. Here’s a small coffee sip from this book for young adults:
“It is amazing how much better coffee grows when sung to by birds or when through an opened window comes the sound of a human voice reading words on paper that still holds the memory of the tree it used to be.”
To Market, To Market, Nikki McClure
The work of a self-taught US artist who has conceived quite a few children’s books, this one has a mom and son going to a farmer’s market. In 32 pages, you get a story and information about the items they touch and feel, finding out where they actually grew. The whole story, going from food item to farm, is a picture-book for babies, with designs which were first cut by a knife by Nikki. This artist specialises in illustrations and storytelling around hard labour and community.
Baawre Beej, Vishakha Chanchani
How much fun can the story of a seed seller be? Read and find out. Each seed has a different tale in this story. A Hindi storybook told in verse and pictures, making it a delightful way to introduce kids to the bond between the seed, the plant and the earth.
While flipping through the pages, the seeds reminded me of a farmer who was staring lovingly at a particular seed. I was enchanted with the love for it in his eyes. His wife and he had named it after a peacock. When I asked him why, he opened my palm and put the seed on it. It looked sort of like a peacock’s head and the farmer told me, “these scientists go and name seeds like machines, PL-270, 240, it has no character and no imagination. But we love our seeds like they are part of the family.” His words resonate as the fun pictures by Angeline & Upesh Pradhan will in this book.
Esperanza Rising, Pam Muñoz Ryan
In May 2015, California, like many parts of India, is in mid-drought. This classic novella, birthed in California, has gone through a reissue. The story is set around the Great Depression and tells the tale of how a young girl who goes from being owner of a farm to labouring on it.
But it is told like a lyrical folk tale. It is a great way to introduce kids to what drought means and how the human spirit can rise above it. The writer is a Californian and comes from an ethnic mix of Spanish, Mexican, Basque, Italian, and Oklahoman.
The London Jungle Book, Bhajju Shyam
When you see this Gond artist’s work, you’ll see why it is such an urban travesty that the first job he got in Bhopal, was as a watchman. Mixing his tribal eye for colour and whimsical wonder, he travels to London. Keeping Kipling’s The Jungle Book as a counterpoint, you see how captivating a tribal imagination can be when it surfs the city concrete. A bus inside a cat, the London Eye inside a human eye and Big Ben, in what is a brilliant rural-urban match, a rooster here. This gem from Tara Books will stoke your child’s wonder in unimaginable ways, even if the story is actually of how warped reality became for Bhajju Shyam, when a strong Central Indian rural imagination visits London. And this is only in one in a series of many brilliant books by him.
For more meaningful suggestions on summer farm reads for kids, you can join the Fairtrade India chat here.
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And then I complimented the child on spotting the right connection. All those pieces I’d read, claiming that kids learn by feeling through their senses, that kids who play about in mud, close to nature, develop an early appreciation for it, made sense that very moment.
Recently, I tuned into a Twitter on green books for kids, featuring stories on farms and climate change. In Australia, rural romances are supposed to have overtaken other genres in fiction, even for adults.
So here is a multilingual list from around the world to dip into with city-bred children, so that they can learn a little about the rural world they never encounter first-hand. Sure, it may be too hot to head out to a farm, unless it is in the mountains – but it is never too warm to snuggle with a kid and read a story together.
A Cafecito Story, J. Alvarez
This book’s been written by J for Julia, who, along with her American husband, operates a small organic coffee farm in the Dominican Republic. They also run a school where both kids and adults learn to read and write.
This slim book is a near autobiographical fable of a boy called Joe, a son of a farmer, involving a journey he takes and how it changes his life. It includes woodcuts by a well-known local artist and is usually found in worldwide alternative stores. Here’s a small coffee sip from this book for young adults:
“It is amazing how much better coffee grows when sung to by birds or when through an opened window comes the sound of a human voice reading words on paper that still holds the memory of the tree it used to be.”
To Market, To Market, Nikki McClure
The work of a self-taught US artist who has conceived quite a few children’s books, this one has a mom and son going to a farmer’s market. In 32 pages, you get a story and information about the items they touch and feel, finding out where they actually grew. The whole story, going from food item to farm, is a picture-book for babies, with designs which were first cut by a knife by Nikki. This artist specialises in illustrations and storytelling around hard labour and community.
Baawre Beej, Vishakha Chanchani
How much fun can the story of a seed seller be? Read and find out. Each seed has a different tale in this story. A Hindi storybook told in verse and pictures, making it a delightful way to introduce kids to the bond between the seed, the plant and the earth.
While flipping through the pages, the seeds reminded me of a farmer who was staring lovingly at a particular seed. I was enchanted with the love for it in his eyes. His wife and he had named it after a peacock. When I asked him why, he opened my palm and put the seed on it. It looked sort of like a peacock’s head and the farmer told me, “these scientists go and name seeds like machines, PL-270, 240, it has no character and no imagination. But we love our seeds like they are part of the family.” His words resonate as the fun pictures by Angeline & Upesh Pradhan will in this book.
Esperanza Rising, Pam Muñoz Ryan
In May 2015, California, like many parts of India, is in mid-drought. This classic novella, birthed in California, has gone through a reissue. The story is set around the Great Depression and tells the tale of how a young girl who goes from being owner of a farm to labouring on it.
But it is told like a lyrical folk tale. It is a great way to introduce kids to what drought means and how the human spirit can rise above it. The writer is a Californian and comes from an ethnic mix of Spanish, Mexican, Basque, Italian, and Oklahoman.
The London Jungle Book, Bhajju Shyam
When you see this Gond artist’s work, you’ll see why it is such an urban travesty that the first job he got in Bhopal, was as a watchman. Mixing his tribal eye for colour and whimsical wonder, he travels to London. Keeping Kipling’s The Jungle Book as a counterpoint, you see how captivating a tribal imagination can be when it surfs the city concrete. A bus inside a cat, the London Eye inside a human eye and Big Ben, in what is a brilliant rural-urban match, a rooster here. This gem from Tara Books will stoke your child’s wonder in unimaginable ways, even if the story is actually of how warped reality became for Bhajju Shyam, when a strong Central Indian rural imagination visits London. And this is only in one in a series of many brilliant books by him.
For more meaningful suggestions on summer farm reads for kids, you can join the Fairtrade India chat here.