Product Description

This well-established illustrator takes an affectionate look at farm life throughout the seasons as he observed them residing on his family's Iowa farm. All the activities of the year are described here, and illustrated in full colour, from clearing the fields in spring to preparing for Christmas. From the butchering of the pigs in springtime to the ploughing of the corn in the summer, Artley describes the many, sometimes tedious, sometimes enjoyable, responsibilities of growing up on a farm. From potato digging in the autumn to milking time in the winter, he provides the reader with many vibrant paintings, illustrating the scenes of farm life for the reader firsthand.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #875717 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 128 pages

From School Library Journal
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, WI
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.