Life on a Farm Book List

A kindly spider, a crafty rat, a wise farmer, a loving little girl named Fern, a humble-yet-terrific pig, and a miracle. No wonder it's a favorite! You and your 8- to 12-year-old readers will hang on every word. This 60th anniversary edition includes the beloved illustrations by Garth Williams and a foreword by Newbery Medal-winner Kate DiCamillo. 184 pages, softcover from HarperCollins.

This is the story of how Laura Ingalls Wilder's husband Almanzo grew up as a farmer boy far from the little house where Laura lived. Almanzo is living on a farm in New York State. Here he and his brothers and sisters help with the summer planting and fall harvest. In winter there is wood to be chopped and great slabs of ice to be cut from the river and stored. When his chores are all done, Almanzo can go to his favorite place in the whole world -- the horse-barn. Although his father wouldn't let him handle the frisky colts, Almanzo can still look at them and dream of one day having a horse all his own! Time for fun also comes when the jolly tin peddler visits or the fair comes to town. Recommended for ages 8 to 12.

Winter on the Farm introduces Almanzo Wilder, the young boy from Farmer Boy who would one day marry Laura Ingalls. Almanzo goes through his afternoon barn chores, and then sits down to eat a hearty farm supper with his family. In this first book about Almanzo, young readers are able to share in the warmth and joy of another Little House family and celebrate new Little House adventures.

Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books have been cherished by generations of readers. Now the youngest readers can share in her adventures in these very special picture books adapted from the beloved stories. Recommended for ages 3 to 8.

Set in the rolling dales of Yorkshire, England, these classic tales have captivated readers for years. Now they've been adapted for a new generation of dog-, cat-, and sheep-lovers! Here are eight beautifully illustrated favorites, including "Moses the Kitten"; "Bonnie's Big Day"; and "Smudge, the Little Lost Lamb." A wonderful addition to any child's library.

"Look at that duck!"
Everyone at the fair is laughing at Daniel's wood carving, and he's heartbroken. But sometimes laughter is the greatest compliment of all.
I Can Read Books Level 3 features short chapters and more complicated plots for the newly independent readers.

So much better than the movie (which, actually, was pretty good), this is the multiple award-winning classic story of Babe the sheep-herding pig. When Babe arrives at Hogget Farm, Mrs. Hogget’s thoughts turn to sizzling bacon and juicy pork chops. But before long, Babe reveals a talent no one could have expected: he can handle Farmer Hogget’s stubborn flock better than any sheepdog ever could! When Farmer Hogget enters Babe in the Grand Challenge Sheepdog Trials, everyone, including his wife, thinks he is a fool. But he believes in Babe. Now it’s just up to Babe to convince everyone else to believe in a sheep-pig! 128 pages, softcover. Ages 6 and up.

Nobody could capture the Phantom. She was the wildest mare on Assateague Island. They said she was like the wind, that the white "map" on her shoulders was her mark of freedom. Paul and Maureen Beebe had their hearts set on owning her. They were itching to buy and tame her; and worked hard to earn the money she would cost. But the roundup men had tried to capture her and for two years she had escaped them. Pony Penning Day holds a surprise for everyone, for Paul not only brings in the Phantom, but her newborn colt as well. Can Paul and Maureen possibly earn enough to buy them both? Recommended for ages 8 and up. A 1948 Newbery Honor Book.

Popular cozy enthusiast and blogger, Liz Marie, and her husband Jose Galvan draw on the sweet story of bringing home a lamb to White Cottage Farm to craft We Belong to Each Other, their first children's book, which focuses on finding family.

At first, Grace feels as if she doesn’t belong because she is the only sheep at White Cottage Farm. But as she experiences the love of the other animals and of the kind man and woman and their baby, she begins to feel safe in her new home and recognizes that God provided her with a loving family.

With delightful rhyming text and cozy farm illustrations, children will learn:

• The affirming message that home is any place filled with love
• Families come in all shapes and sizes
• How to embrace acceptance with love and patience

We Belong to Each Other is perfect for:

• Ages 4-8
• Readers who enjoyed Liz's creativity and welcoming voice in Cozy White Cottage
• Baby showers and adoption celebrations, birthdays, Gotcha Days, and weddings of blended families

You'll love holding your children close as you share the heart of this book with them over and over: we belong to each other.

Cows Can Moo! Can You? All About Farms by Bonnie Worth and illustrated by Aristides Ruiz and Joe Mathieu, is a fun story inspired by Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat. Filled with Dr. Seuss-esque illustrations and paired with a fun, rhyming text, readers will love learning about farm life, from cows being milked, chickens being fed, sheep being sheered, fields being tilled, fertilized, reaped, mowed, irrigated and more!

In the Texas hill country of the late 1860s, a big, ugly, yellow dog shows up out of nowhere one night and steals a whole side of hanging pork from the homestead that Travis and his family built from scratch. Travis takes an easy hate to Old Yeller, as they start to call him and would have driven him off or killed him if not for brother Arliss' loud protests, So Yeller stays, and Travis soon finds that he can't get along without him. In this Newbery Award winning coming-of-age story, Travis and Old Yeller work together to defend their homestead during his father's absence on a cattle drive. 192 pages, softcover. Ages 9 and up.

The Bear family visits a farm in this fun I Can Read story. They never knew hard work could be so much fun!

Brother and Sister have so many questions about how the farm works, and Farmer Ben has a lot to teach them.

The Berenstain Bears Down on the Farm is a Level One I Can Read book, which means it’s perfect for children learning to sound out words and sentences. Whether shared at home or in a classroom, the short sentences, familiar words, and simple concepts of Level One books support success for children eager to start reading on their own.

This sweet story is a favorite for units on the American pioneer era as well as using quilting to preserve memories.

Faith's family is heading west! It's 1850, and it's time to pack their covered wagon to prepare for the journey to California and a new life.

Faith's Pa says there's no room on a wagon train for Josefina, a chicken who's too tough to eat and too old to lay eggs. But Faith loves her pet. Can Josefina show Pa that she still has a few surprises left in her?

As a five-star review from a teacher put it: "My students love this one! Each chapter has a quilt block to go with it. Faith works on the quilt blocks as they travel and each block tells a story about part of the journey. In the end they sew the blocks together to make a Josefina story quilt."

The Josefina Story Quilt is a Level Three I Can Read book. Level 3 includes many fun subjects kids love to read about on their own. Themes include friendship, adventure, historical fiction, and science. Level Three books are written for early independent readers. They include some challenging words and more complex themes and stories.

It's 1967 and Betsy Korb is growing up with her siblings on the family farm in Wisconsin. Life on the farm is a busy one, with lots of fun times and hard work. This family learns to rely on each other and the guidance of their parents to help them navigate the many mishaps and experiences they have on the farm.

Life on the farm from year to year. The farmer packs the ox cart with all the goods that were grown, and made by his family to be sold at the market. He kisses his family good-bye and takes the full ox cart to market to sell all his goods, only to begin the process all over again for the next year. Recommended for ages 3 to 8. The 1980 Caldecott Medal winner.

Teach your children that hard work pays off with this delightful illustrated book by Eric Carle. Join the very busy spider as she spends her day weaving her web, so she can catch her dinner-the unsuspecting fly. This new, larger board book edition is great for young children to look at and read along with you.

It's Farmer Brown's birthday, and the animals are deciding what they'll do for him on his special day.

Going fishing for the first time, starting in a new school, saving the farmhouse from fire, these are the elements of young Rose Wilder's first year at Rocky Ridge Farm. She feels out of place as the new girl in her class but gradually gains confidence, and Rocky Ridge becomes truly her home. Recommended for ages 8 to 12.

Rediscover this Newbery Medal–winning classic, a favorite of generations.

Strawberries—big, ripe, and juicy. Ten-year-old Birdie Boyer can hardly wait to start picking them. But her family has just moved to the Florida backwoods, and they haven't even begun their planting. "Don't count your biddies 'fore they're hatched, gal young un!" her father tells her.

Making the new farm prosper is not easy. There is heat to suffer through, and droughts, and cold snaps. And, perhaps most worrisome of all for the Boyers, there are rowdy neighbors, just itching to start a feud. The land was theirs, but so were its hardships.

Teachers, grandparents, and homeschooling families continue to reach for Lois Lenski's Strawberry Girl. As one fan commented, a reason for its continued success is that it's "a touching, realistic tale of the power of neighborly love and kindness."

Richard Scarry's classic Little Golden Book all about farm animals is now available as a board book!

Oink! Cluck! Moo! It's suppertime on the farm and all the animals are hungry. But where is Farmer Jones? Featuring cows, horses, pigs, dogs, cats, and more, little farm fans will love exploring the sights and sounds of this classic. Finally available as a board book, and perfect for the youngest of hands, children will be eager to visit this farm again and again.

LITTLE GOLDEN BOOKS have been loved by children for over 75 years. When they were first published in 1942, high-quality books for children hadn't been available at a price most people could afford. Little Golden Books changed that! Priced at just 25 cents and sold where people shopped every day, they caused an instant sensation and were soon purchased by the hundreds of thousands. Created by such talented writers as Margaret Wise Brown (author of Goodnight Moon) and Richard Scarry, Little Golden Books have helped millions of children develop a lifelong love of reading. Today, Little Golden Books features beloved classics such as The Poky Little Puppy and Scuffy the Tugboat, hot licenses, and new original stories - the classics of tomorrow, ready to be discovered between their sturdy cardboard covers and gold-foil spines.

A fun-filled farm-themed board book from Richard Scarry--just in time for his 100th birthday!

Little farmers will love putting on their overalls and heading to work alongside rumbling tractors, giant plows, speedy cornhuskers, and more! Full of colorful vehicles and friendly faces from Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, What Do People Do All Day?, and Busiest People Ever!, farm life has never been so much fun!

Also available
Busy Busy Cars and Trucks
Busy Busy Construction Site
Busy Busy Farm

When a natural disaster strikes the family farm, young Matthew Briggs dreams of being part of the rescue effort. Then an opportunity presents itself for him to help in a big way, but it comes with a risk and no guarantees. Can he learn to always be content with the Lord's will, like his Papa is?

Adventure and excitement take place at the horse pull in this fiction title for ages 6-7.135 pages, softcover; large print font.

King of the barnyard, Chanticleer struts about all day. When a fox bursts into his domain, dupes him into crowing, and then grabs him in a viselike grip, Chanticleer must do some quick thinking to save himself and his barnyard kingdom. Recommended for ages 4 to 8. The 1959 Caldecott Medal winner.

Anna's life on the prairie is like many other immigrants in the early 1900s-her mother dies, her newborn sister dies, and her father's South Dakota farm is not doing well. Her family makes all the decisions about how to survive, leaving her to catch up and adjust to all the changes in her life. When she's given a different option, what will she decide to do with the one choice she's been given?

It has been a while since Folks lived in the Big House, and an even longer time has passed since there has been a garden at the House. All the animals of the Hill are very excited about the new Folks moving in, and they wonder how things are going to change. It’s only a matter of time before the animals of the Hill find out just who is moving in, and they may be a little bit surprised when they do.

By the big red barn in the great green field, there was a pink pig who was learning to squeal. There were horses and sheep and goats and geese - and a jaunty old scarecrow leaning on his hoe. And they all lived together by the big red barn. In joyous and exuberant pictures, Felicia Bond lovingly evokes Margaret Wise Brown's simple, rythmic text about the cycle of a day on a farm, where a family of animals peacefully plays and sleeps. 32 pages, hardcover with jacket.

This slice of American history is perfect for your horse-loving reader!  Joel Goss knows that Little Bub is a special colt, even though he's a runt. And when schoolteacher Justin Morgan asks Joel to break the colt in, Joel is thrilled! Soon word about Little Bub has spread throughout the entire Northeast. That’s because this spirited colt can pull heavier loads than a pair of oxen and run faster than thoroughbreds!  A Newbery Honor-winning title from Marguerite Henry featuring the classic illustrations of Wesley Dennis, this is the story of the little runt who became the father of the world-famous breed of American horses: the Morgan.. 176 pages, softcover. Ages 8 – 12.

When Garnet Linden finds a silver thimble in a dried-up riverbed, she seemingly sets off a string of good-luck incidents: the rains end the drought, an orphan becomes a new member of their family, her pig wings a blue ribbon. Nearly every day brings some new joy, creating her "thimble summer" of happiness. 136 pages, paperback. Newbery winner.

Written by the award-winning author of the Melendy Quartet series of books, Elizabeth Enright.

The farmer had a hat, an old brown hat.
Oh, how her liked that old brown hat!

But then the wind came, and blew the hat away. And as fast as the farmer ran, the wind raced even faster. So the farmer went looking. Neither squirrel, nor Mouse, nor Duck, nor any of the other animals has seen the hat--though they had seen some pretty strange things. Would the farmer ever find his favorite hat?

Petook by Caryll Houselander and Tomie dePaola, is a story of Petook, a snowy white rooster that is proud and very protective of his wife's brood of chicks. When a young Jesus visits the garden, Petook is concerned for the chicks' protection, until he see the young boy kneeling and caressing his newborn chicks. Years later, as Petook is waiting for another hatching, he witnesses men being crucified at Calvary's Hill. Petook becomes agitated, but doesn't know that one of those men was the young visitor from years ago. Three days later on Easter morning, a new brood of chicks hatch, and the Resurrection of the stranger coincide. Petook is inspired to crow with great joy, celebrating the mystery of new life. Hardcover, 32 pages. Ages 5 to 8 years old

In this reissued edition of by Margaret Wise Brown, Christmas in the Barn tells a childlike interpretation of the Nativity story with new full-color illustrations from New York Times bestselling illustrator Anna Dewdney.

Farmer Brown has a problem and it started with his cows. They can type. This quirky, hilariously illustrated farmyard tale documents events in which the cows request better working conditions, and Farmer Brown’s response as he tries to control the chaos on his farm.  32 pages, softcover. Ages 3 and up.

Bestselling Caldecott Honor artist David Shannon tells the story of a determined duck who decides to jump on a tractor and drive it around the barnyard and through town, with hilarious consequences!

There were boulders at the top and he picked his way carefully among them. Suddenly he stopped still, gripping a rock and flattening himself against it. Not ten paces from him was a gray wolf, and around her four well-grown cubs were playing - prettily, if anything that spelt such horror could be pretty. His hands felt like ice on the rock.