Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom Extra Reading: Books for Teaching About Agriculture Crops Crops Corn Cotton Cranberries Forestry Grains Hay Nuts Peanuts Potatoes Wheat Crops Artley, Bob, Once Upon a Farm, Pelican, 2000. (Young Adult) The writer and illustrator grew up on an Iowa farm in the 1930s as the "age of the horse" was giving way to the "age of the tractor." Detailed sketches and color drawings illustrate the work involve - walking through the spring mud from barn to barn carrying a bucket of feed, a birds' eye view of the farmstead, cleaning oat seed with a hand powered fanning mill, planting corn behind a team of horses, milking a cow the old fashioned way, the details of a cream separator, threshers at harvest time and much more. Artley describes the hard work but also the fun. It is a touching book written with love and realism describing a lifestyle that has passed by. Peterson, Cris, Harvest Year, Boyd's Mills Press, 1996 (PreK - 2) In a month-by-month spread of vivid color photos and brief text, the author introduces the bounty of crops produced across the U.S. Each month is treated in two large pages that include a map highlighting the producing states, children enjoying one of the products, a picturesque crop in the field, and a piece of unusual machinery. The text contains interesting facts about foods familiar to the young: cranberry plants can produce for up to 100 years; watermelon can weigh up to 100 pounds; one gallon of maple syrup requires 40 gallons of tree sap. The author includes a list of briefly annotated books with an agricultural theme. This engaging book will interest city and country dwellers of all ages, as it provides a pictorial glimpse of the industry behind common grocery store items. Corn Bial, Raymond, Corn Belt Harvest, Houghton Mifflin, 1991. (Grades 3-6) A straightforward presentation of current American practice in raising and using corn - planting, harvest, storage marketing and life in corn country. DePaola, Tomie, The Popcorn Book, Holiday House, 1984. (Grades PreK-2) Landau, Elaine, Corn, Children's, 2000. (Grades 4-6) Landau, Elaine, Popcorn! Sagebrush, 2003. Picture book for older children offers popcorn facts and figures including the snack's Native American origins, the invention of the popping machine, and the popularity of popcorn during World War II, when sugar for other snack foods was in short supply. Brightly colored acrylic illustrations enhance the humor of the text. A pesky raccoon character insinuates himself into nearly every picture, raiding the refrigerator, roasting corn over an open fire, and stealing the treat from humans. Mayo, Gretchen Will, and Susan Nations, Cereal, Weekly Reader, 2004. (Grades 2-4) Describes how wheat, rice, and other types of grain are grown, harvested, and made into breakfast cereals. McCully, Emily Arnold, Popcorn at the Palace, Browndeer, 1997. (K-3) McCully bases this tale on a piece of history from her own hometown, Galesburg, Illinois, and one of its innovative founders, Olmsted Ferris, who experimented with unusual crops. When Olmsted learned that popcorn was unknown in Europe, he took a shipment of it to London and obtained an audience with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to demonstrate this wonder. Victoria gave Olmsted a doll for his young daughter, which was passed down through the family for generations. McCully tells the story from the perspective of Olmsted's daughter, imagining that the idea of exporting popcorn originated with her and having her accompany her father to London and to Victoria's court. Myers, Jack, What Makes Popcorn Pop? And Other Questions About the World Around Us, Boyds Mills, 1994. (Grades PreK-2) Nelson, Robin, From Kernel to Corn, Lerner, 2003. (Grades PreK-2) O'Malley, Kevin, Gimme Cracked Corn and I Will Share, Walker Books for Young Readers, 2007. (Grades PreK-2) Corny one-liners drive this slapstick fantasy, as two featherbrained hens cross the road to follow their dreams. Stevens, Jan Romero, Carlos and the Cornfield/Carlos y la milpa de maiz, Rising Moon, 1995 (Grades 2-5) Picture book in English and Spanish describes how Carlos learns a life-long lesson affter planting corn for his father. Includes recipe for cornmeal pancakes. Cotton Denenberg, Barry, So Far From Home: The Diary of Mary Driscol, An Irish Mill Girl, Lowell Massachusetts, 1847, Scholastic, 1996. (Grades 4-7) Fourteen-year-old Mary Driscoll and her family have lived in terrible poverty in the Irish countryside every since the potato famine began several years ago. When Mary is offered a chance to join her aunt and older sister in America, she jumps at the chance to seek a better life for herself. But after a long, stormy, and miserable ocean voyage, Mary arrives in America to find that it is nothing like she expected. She takes a job in a textile mill in Lowell, Massachusetts, where she is scorned by most of the American workers and expected to work long hours under terrible, unsafe conditions. There are few bright spots in this account of the life faced by many girls in New England cities during the mid-nineteenth century, and most of what happened to the fictional character of Mary happened to various girls who lived back then and worked in factories and mills. Ernst Lisa C., Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt, Morrow, 1992. (Grades K-3) When Sam Johnson inadvertently discovers how much fun sewing can be, he tries to join the Rosedale Women's Quilting Club. "Don't be silly," the club president says. "We can't have a man here bungling everything!" But Sam Johnson won't take no for an answer. He organizes a rival sewing circle-- and no women need apply. Hamilton, Virginia, The People Could Fly: The Picture Book, Knopf/Random House, 2005. (Grades 3-5) A group of African slaves working in cotton fields in America escape an abusive overseer through magic recalled from Africa. Hospkinson, Deborah, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, Knopf, 1995. (Grades K-3) As a seamstress in the Big House, Clara dreams of a reunion with her Momma, who lives on another plantation - and even of running away to freedom. Then she overhears two slaves talking about the Underground Railroad. In a flash of inspiration, Clara sees how she can use the cloth in her scrap bag to make a map of the land - a freedom quilt - that no master will ever suspect. Keeler, Patricia A., and Francis X. McCall, Jr., Unraveling Fibers, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1995. (Grades 4-7) From general remarks about fibers and how they are spun, then woven or knitted into cloth, this book proceeds to more detailed discussions of natural fibers from plants (flax, cotton, jute) and animals (wool, cashmere, silk), and synthetic fibers (rayon, polyester, Kevlar). Throughout the book, small full-color photographs provide clear views of the fibers in many stages of growth and production. The last page speculates about possible fibers of the future. The clarity of both text and illustration makes this a useful introduction to fibers, their production, and their uses. McCully, Emily Arnold, The Bobbin Girl, Dial, 1996. (Grades K-3) When her mother's income from the boardinghouse no longer covers their expenses, 10-year-old Rebecca helps out by working as a bobbin girl at the local textile mill. The young women who board with Mrs. Putney endure the mill's bad air, loud machinery, high injury rate, and low wages in the hope of improving their lot, but when the mill owners threaten to lower their wages, the mill workers stage a "turnout," refusing to work. Although the protest fails, young Rebecca is proud of doing the right thing and vows to carry on the struggle. A Lowell, Massachusetts, textile mill in the 1830s may be an unlikely setting for a picture book, even one for older readers, but McCully weaves historical facts and fictional characters into an intriguing story. The author's note details the background, incidents, and people who inspired the book. Beautifully composed watercolor paintings give a vivid impression of America in the 1830s and bring the period to life. A useful book for history units. Miles, Betty, Secret Life of the Underwear Champ, Knopf, 1999. (Grades 4-7) "To be 'discovered' by an ad agency looking for the perfect kid for a TV commercial - A Dream Come True. To find that shooting will conflict with baseball practices - A Big Worry. But, to discover the TV commercial is for underwear - A Social Disaster! Paterson, Katherine, Lyddie, Lodestar, 1994. (Young Adult) Lyddie Worthen must decide whether to risk losing her job running a loom at a dusty Massachusetts factory--a job she has taken to earn enough money to reunite her family--by protesting the poor working conditions. Paulsen, Gary, The Quilt, Random House, 2005. (Grades 3-8) A young boy learns the stories of his Norwegian American family as told through a quilt created by women left at home during wartime in 1944. Rutberg, Becky, Mary Lincoln's Dressmaker, Elizabeth Keckley's Remarkable Rise from Slave to White House Confidante, Walker, 1995 (Young Adult). Born a slave in 1818, Mary Keckley endured 37 years of abuse, including forced sexual relations (and a resulting pregnancy) before buying freedom for herself and her son. Once free, she used her sewing skills to become one of Washington D.C.'s most successful dressmakers. Then she closed her dress shop to care for the first lady after Lincoln's assassination. Sloat, Teri, and Nadine Bernard Westcott, Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep, DK, 2000. (Grades K-2) The sheep want their fleece back and follow the wool through the process of spinning, dyeing and knitting. Farmer Brown knits the sheep sweaters in beautiful colors so that they are happy every year to produce more wool for him. Tiffault, Benette W., Quilt for Elizabeth, Centering, 1996. When Elizabeth is eight years old, her father dies. She displays anger over his illness and denial when she hears of his death. Gradually, with the help of her mother and grandmother, she comes to accept his absence. She learns to sew, and she and her grandmother piece together patches of favorite clothing saved over time, clothing that holds treasured memories of her father. When the quilt is finished, Elizabeth wraps herself inside, enters the tree house her father built for her, and feels better knowing that she holds him deep within her. Williams, Sherley Anna, Working Cotton, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1996. (Grades preK-3) Shelan, the young child of two migrant workers, follows her parents into the fields to help them pick cotton during a long day of work, in a dramatically illustrated study of migrant family life. Woodson, Jacqueline, and Hudson Talbott, Show Way, Putnam, 2005. (Grades K-5) A Show Way is a quilt with secret meanings, and the image works as both history and metaphor in this picture book. Based on Woodson's own history, the story is of African American women across generations, from slavery and the civil rights movement to the present. Growing up on a plantation in South Carolina, Soonie learns from Big Mama about children "growing up and getting themselves free," and also how to sew quilts with signs that show the way to freedom. Cranberries Burns, Diane, and Cheryl Walsh Bellville, Cranberries: Fruit of the Bogs, Carolrhoda, 2001. (Grades 3-5) A brief history of the "bog ruby," as it was called by Cape Codders, reveals the cranberry's versatility and importance to the Native Americans and the pilgrims. A tour of two cranberry farms in Wisconsin follows, with descriptions of activities that take place throughout the growing season. Crisp, attractive photographs. Forestry Love, Ann, and Jane Drake, Forestry, Kids Can, 1998. (Grades 4-7) Logs for the fireplace, paper for airplanes and school projects, the very houses in which we dwell we owe to wondrous trees. How often do we stop and think about how this happens and what the impact is on our environment? Cameron and his uncle do just that in this informational tour of the felling, harvesting, and replanting of trees and the equipment and manpower it takes to get the job done. Oppenheim, Joanne, Have You Seen Trees? Scholastic, 1995. (Grades K-2) Full-page pen and watercolor illustrations jump from the pages of this dissertation on trees. The rhythm "high trees, wide trees, reaching to the sky trees" or "budding, bursting, blooming trees" is sure to capture the read-aloud audience as will the beautiful artwork. At the end, the author and illustrators have identified 16 trees and their leaves. A great book to read before a nature walk. Pfeffer, Wendy, and Robin Brickman, A Log's Life, Simon and Schuster, 1998. (Grades K-3) After an oak tree falls in the forest, it has another life as home to a variety of creatures. As it decays over time, it provides food and shelter to porcupines, ants, mushrooms, salamanders, and many others, until it eventually turns into a mound of rich black earth. Very young children love spotting the animals as they learn about the life cycle of a tree. Full color. Winter, Jeanette, The Christmas Tree Ship, Econo-Clad, 1999. (Grades K-3) Winter relates the tale of a young schooner captain who traveled treacherous Lake Michigan each year at Christmas to supply Chicagoans with spruce trees for their holiday celebrations. When his boat was lost during one particularly bad winter, his wife and family chose to honor his memory and celebrate the holiday by continuing the tradition he started. Grains Hughes, Meredith Sayles, Glorious Grasses: The Grains (Plants We Eat), Lerner, 1998. (Grades 4-7) Following an introduction that offers general botanical information, Hughes tells the history and provides agricultural and botanical information for each plant subject in this series. Chapters are illustrated with clear color and black-and-white photographs, reproductions, and drawings. Various cooking methods around the world are discussed. Mayo, Gretchen Will, and Susan Nations, Cereal, Weekly Reader, 2004. (Grades 2-4) Describes how wheat, rice, and other types of grain are grown, harvested, and made into breakfast cereals. Wolfman, Judy, and David Lorenz Winston, Life on a Crop Farm, Lerner, 2002 (Grades K-4) Hay Artley, Bob, Once Upon a Farm, Pelican, 2000. (Young Adult) The writer and illustrator grew up on an Iowa farm in the 1930s as the "age of the horse" was giving way to the "age of the tractor." Detailed sketches and color drawings illustrate the work involve - walking through the spring mud from barn to barn carrying a bucket of feed, a birds' eye view of the farmstead, cleaning oat seed with a hand powered fanning mill, planting corn behind a team of horses, milking a cow the old fashioned way, the details of a cream separator, threshers at harvest time and much more. Artley describes the hard work but also the fun. It is a touching book written with love and realism describing a lifestyle that has passed by. Geisert, Bonnie, Haystack, Houghton Mifflin, 2003. (Grades K-3) Beginning with details about mowing, drying and tromping hay, the narrative moves on to explain the haystack's important purposes: to provide food, and a shelter from the wind, for cows during the winter; during warmer weather, to serve as a resting and feeding place for pigs. In return, the animals' manure is used as fertilizer for the next year's hay, thus continuing the cycle. Haas, Jessie, and Joseph A. Smith, Mowing, Greenwillow, 1994. (Grades PreK-2) Bumping down the road on the seat of an old, sickle-bar mower, Nora and Gramp set out to mow the hayfield just as the sun's rays strike the side of the barn. Once in the field, Nora gets down to scout out little animals that might be injured by the horses or the blades. A fawn and a killdeer nest are spared because of her keen eyes, and by Gramp's decision to leave the clumps of grass they live in uncut: "'Some people would call that a pretty bad job of mowing,' he says, 'But we know better, don't we?'" And so will children, who will sense the respect for life in Haas's quiet story. Smith's illustrations-watercolor paints, colored pencils, and watercolor pencils-meld well with the text. Of particular note is his skill in capturing the changing light as the day passes over the lush countryside, and the varying perspectives from which each scene is viewed. Lester, Alison, My Farm, Houghton-Mifflin, 1994. (Grades K-3) Recollections of life on an Australian farm, with summer days filled with driving cattle, picking blackberries and taking a swim. Australian autumn brings new calves, rainstorms and mushrooms after a winter spent doing chores. Springtime is spent baling hay. Great water color illustrations and matter of fact details include butchering of animals as just another event of the farm year. Nuts Hughes, Meredith Sayles, Hard to Crack: Nut Trees, Lerner, 2001. (Grades 5-7) Following an introduction that offers general botanical information, Hughes tells the history and provides agricultural and botanical information for each plant subject in this series. Chapters are illustrated with clear color and black-and-white photographs, reproductions, and drawings. Various cooking methods around the world are discussed. Peanuts Hughes, Maredith Sayles, Spill the Beans and Pass the Peanuts: Legumes, Lerner, 1999. (Grades 5-7) Following an introduction that offers general botanical information, Hughes tells the history and provides agricultural and botanical information for each plant subject in this series. Chapters are illustrated with clear color and black-and-white photographs, reproductions, and drawings. Various cooking methods around the world are discussed. Micucci, Charles, The Life and Times of the Peanut, Houghton, 1997 (Grades 4-7) What are peanuts - are they peas or are they nuts? Do they grow above or below ground? Who invented peanut butter?This fascinating picture book, with its concise, detailed text and abundant illustrations, ranging from the humorous to the scientific, offers a spirited introduction to the life cycle, many uses, and historical influences of the peanut. Nelson, Marilyn, Carver: A Life in Poems, Front Street, 2001. (Young Adult) One of the very few black Americans accorded great respect before the 1960s was botanist and educator George Washington Carver. In this biography in poems, Nelson traces Carver from his recovery after being kidnapped in infancy to his death. The life in between is characterized by hard work, intellectual curiosity, personal humility, devotion to the betterment of black Americans, enormous self-possession, and practical Christian piety. Potatoes Bartoletti, Susan Camptell, Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850. Houghton-Mifflin, 2001 (Grades 4-6) In 1845, a mysterious blight attacked the potato crops in Ireland, turning the potatoes black and destroying the only real food of nearly six million people. Over the next five years, the blight attacked again and again. These years are known today as the Great Irish Famine, a time when one million people died from starvation and disease and two million more fled their homeland. Black Potatoes is the story of men, women, and children who defied landlords and searched empty fields for scraps of harvested vegetables and edible weeds to eat, who walked several miles each day to hard-labor jobs for meager wages and to reach soup kitchens, and who committed crimes just to be sent to jail, where they were assured of a meal. It is the story of children and adults who suffered from starvation, disease, and the loss of family and friends, as well as those who died. Illustrated with black and white engravings. Wheat Dragonwagon, Crescent, and Isadore Selzer, This is the Bread I Baked for Ned, Aladdin, 1999. (Grades PreK-3) Glenda bakes bread for Ned. When Ned gets home, he brings many friends, who enjoy the bread with their meal. A fun, rhyming story with colorful illustrations. Egan, Robert, From Wheat to Pasta, Scholastic, 1997. (Grades 1-2) Describes, in text and photographs, the steps in making various kinds of pasta from growing and harvesting the wheat through the grinding of the flour to making the dough and shaping the final product. Finch, Mary, and Elisabeth Bell, Little Red Hen and the Ear of Wheat, Barefoot, 2001. (Grades PreK-1) A rooster and a mouse live with the little red hen and lazily refuse to help do the chores necessary to turn a grain of wheat into a loaf of bread. When, in turn, the little red hen won't share the fruits of her solitary labor, the shirkers learn their lesson and, in this story, get a second chance. Next time the hen finds a grain of wheat, both rooster and mouse are there to help and to enjoy the delicious reward. Fine, Anne, Flour Babies, Little, Brown, 1992. (Grades 4-8) Galdone, Paul, Nursery Classics: A Galdone Treasury, Houghton Mifflin, 2004. (Grades K-3) Includes Galdone's classic versions of The Three Little Pigs, The Little Red Hen, The Three Bears and The Cat Goes Fiddle Dee Dee. Gershator, Davis, Bread is for Eating, Henry Holt, 1998. (Preschool) Celebrates the importance of bread. The reader is taken on a journey that follows the making of bread, from the seed planted in the soil to the baker's kneading of the dough. Music is included. Granowsky, Alvin, Edelsen, Wendy, and Jane K. Manning, Help Yourself, Little Red Hen, Steck Vaughn, 1996. (Grades K-2) Juxtaposes the traditional tale of the little red hen whose friends would not help her bake bread with the friends' side of the story. Hill, Lee Sullivan, Farms Feed the World, Carolrhoda, 1997. (Grades K-3) A simple introduction to the beauty and variety of farms from a wheat field in Montana to the harvesting of seaweed from the ocean. Fowler, Allan, and Allen Fowler, The Wheat We Eat, Scholastic, 2000. (Grades 1-2) Discusses the growing, processing, and eating of wheat from the Rookie Read About Science series. Landau, Elaine, Wheat, Scholastic, 2000. (Grades 3-5) The history, cultivation, and uses of wheat - from the True Book Series. Levensen, George, Wheat Comes to Life: A Garden of Wheat and a Loaf to Eat, Tenspeed, 2004. (Grades PreK - 2) Beginning with a patch of wheatgrass in his backyard, the author takes readers on a tour of bread made from scratch. He makes numerous stops along the way—a thresher, a grinder, a doughy combination of flour, water, yeast, and oil—before reaching the final destination: a freshly baked loaf of whole wheat bread. Llewellyn, Claire, Bread, Scholastic, 1999. (Grades 5-7) Simplified description of the production, storage and transport, nutritional values, and uses of wheat with a brief discussion of the agricultural techniques used. Excellent photographs and useful glossaries and indexes. Mayo, Gretchen Will, and Susan Nations, Cereal, Weekly Reader, 2004. (Grades 2-4) Describes how wheat, rice, and other types of grain are grown, harvested, and made into breakfast cereals. Moore, Jo Ellen, and Gary Shipman, Bread Around the World, Evan-Moor, 1995. (Grades 1-3) Discover the types of bread produced by people all over the world. Curriculum units include cooking demonstrations, field trips, science, math and writing experiences. Morris, Ann, Bread, Bread, Bread, Morrow, William and Co., 1993. (Grades K-3) Celebrates the many different kinds of bread and how it may be enjoyed all over the world. Pinckney, Jerry, The Little Red Hen, Dial, 2006. (PreK and up.) Unlike other recent authors who try to soften the story’s moral — that if you don’t help make the bread, you won’t get to eat it— Pinkney trusts his audience to understand. Schwartz, Roslyn, The Mole Sisters and the Wavy Wheat, Annick, 2000. (Preschool) The mole sisters always go left, so they decide to go right instead. They find themselves among a field of wavy wheat, and decide to go up, all the way to the top. Optimistic and resourceful, the mole sisters find their way out of various predicaments and end up back home to go "Night, Night." Snyder, Inez, Wheat, Children's, 2004. (Grades PreK-2) Introduces wheat, from the time it is planted in a field until it is made into different foods - From the Harvesttime Series. Sturges, Philemon, and Amy Walrod, Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza, Dutton, 1999. (Grades K-3) The Little Red Hen spies a can of tomato sauce in her cupboard and decides to make a pizza. With no help from her friends the duck, the dog, and the cat, Hen goes through the steps of making a pizza - shopping for supplies, making the dough, and adding the toppings. But despite their initial resistance, the hen's friends come through in the end and help out in a refreshing and surprising way. Yolen, Jane, and Greg Shed, Harvest Home, Harcourt, 2002. In rhythmic verse, with the responsive refrain "Bringing the harvest home," young Bess tells of reaping the season's wheat at the end of a bountiful summer of planting. The work is hard and the heat is relentless, but the family forges ahead, anticipating the end of their labors and the celebratory meal for all of the friends and family who have helped. The book concludes with a brief summary of harvest customs around the world and simple instructions for fashioning a harvest doll. Zemach, Margot, Little Red Hen, Farrrer, Strauss and Giroux, 1993. (Grades PreK-2) A retelling of the traditional tale about the little red hen whose lazy friends are unwilling to help her plant, harvest, or grind the wheat into flour, but all are willing to help her eat the bread that she makes from it. Back to Ag-Related Books for Children and Young Adults Back to Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom Recommend a book.