Extra Reading: Books for Teaching About Agriculture
Agricultural Economics
| Demi, One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folk Tale, Scholastic, 1996. (K-2) The story of Rani, a clever girl who outsmarts a very selfish raja and saves her village. When offered a reward for a good deed, she asks only for one grain of rice, doubled each day for 30 days. Remember your math? That's lots of rice: enough to feed a village for a good long time--and to teach a greedy raja a lesson. |
| Friedrich, Elizabeth, and Michael Garland, Leah's Pony, Boyds Mills, 1996. (Grades preK-3) Amid the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, Leah's father is faced with the loss of the family farm and puts his farm and equipment up for auction, but Leah comes up with the money by selling her beloved pony. |
| Hall, Donald, The Milkman's Boy, Walker, 1997. Paul Graves is coming of age during a time when horses and carriages shared roads with Model Ts, and new technology changed old ways of doing things. His father calls the new invention of pasteurization nothing but a fad . . . until one day a fever strikes Paul's sister, and his family learns a hard lesson about the need to balance change and tradition. |
| Melmed, Laura Krauss, and Maryann Kovalski, The Marvelous Market on Mermaid, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1996. (Grades 2-4) Grandma sets up a market on Mermaid Street, and a day of excitement and laughs begins with the hustle and bustle of the crowds, a cat and mouse chase, and other lively events. |
| Rendon, Marcie R., and Cheryl Walsh Bellville, Farmer's Market: Families Working Together, Carolrhoda, 2001. (Grades 3-6) An introduction to farmers' markets, with photos, as seen through the eyes of two successful truck-farming families. A brief overview of a Minnesota farmer's market leads to introductions of two local families: the Thaos, of Hmong descent, and the Kornders, of Polish-German ancestry. Emphasizing the family cooperation required to keep a farm going, and with a special focus on the children's participation, the book also concentrates on moments in the growing season, from the planting of greenhouse seedlings to fall harvests, noting farming techniques and equipment. Nice attention is also given to the international variety of foods and specialties available at market. Readers, particularly urban kids, will learn much from this attractive photo-essay that shows what's so special about farmers' markets: you meet the people who grow the food. |
| Ripley, Catherine, and Scot Ritchie, Do the Doors Open by Magic? and Other Supermarket Questions, Owl, 1995. (grades preK-3) |
| Slawson, Michele Benoit, Apple Picking Time, Crown, 1994. (K-4) When the apples are ready for harvest, everyone in town knocks off from jobs and school to work in the orchards. Recalling apple-picking times in her Washington State childhood, Slawson tells the story of a young girl's day in the orchard. Before daybreak, Anna's family sets out for the orchard. She plays among the trees with the other children, but when work begins, Anna's determined to fill a whole bin of apples for the first time. Ray's artwork, pastels with watercolor washes, gives the book strong visual appeal. The orchard seems suffused with golden light, and the children's faces are as round as the apples they pick. |
| Stevens, Janet, Tops & Bottoms, Harcourt Brace, 1995. (K-4) Hoping to rise above his level of poverty, clever Hare strikes a deal with a rich and lazy bear in which Bear will contribute the land while Hare will provide the labor for a profitable harvest. |