Brainstorm 204: When City Kids Meet Farm Life

I grew up in the city, but my family had close relatives who lived on a working farm not too far away. We made regular visits to the farm, and I never realized until I was older how rare it was for a city kid like me to be pretty familiar with farm life. Most city kids have only loose ideas about where their food comes from or what goes on on a working farm. One of my sisters now works on a farm putting her equine science degree to use. She has some rather entertaining and wild stories about her interactions with city kids meeting farm animals for the first time. (For example, she's had several kids tell her chocolate milk comes from the brown cows.) Book authors have capitalized on the humor, wonder, and even tenderness of these situations when city kids come face to face with domestic animals. So today I have a few books about city slickers meeting farm life for the first time.

Claude in the Country (Claude, #4) by Alex T. Smith
Claude and Sir Bobblysock take a trip to the country and get to be farmers for the day rounding up sheep, lassoing bulls, and other exciting things. And life is anything but dull with these two on the farm.

Target Readers:

• Humor Fans, Animal Lovers, Silly Story Fans, Lower Grade Readers

Moo by Sharon Creech
After Luke and Reena's parents lose their jobs at a New York City newspaper, the family decides to move to Maine. Upon arrival, Reena finds the freedom to ride their bikes everywhere around town amazing. She does not find being volunteered to help curmudgeonly Mrs. Falala take care of the even worse tempered cow Zora amazing, and neither does her little brother Luke. Zora seems to think it is her goal in life to make Reena's life as hard and muddy as possible. But then Mrs. Falala starts to get art lessons from Luke and seems to mellow a little, and Reena gets cow handling advice from experienced cow hands, Zep and Beat. Reena's going to need all the help she can get because Mrs. Falala wants her to show Zora at the fair.
This story is written in a unique blend of prose and novel in verse text.

Target Readers:

• Quick Read Hunters, Novel in Verse Fans, Unique Story Format Fans, Contemporary Fiction Fans, Animal Lovers, Maine Locale Fans, Farm Life Fans, Middle Grade Readers

Moo, Katie Woo (Katie Woo) by Fran Manushkin, ill. by Tammie Lyon
Katie goes to a farm on a field trip, learns a lot about where her food comes from and gets lost in a corn field looking for popped popcorn. A trip to the farm with totally believable city kids.

Target Readers:

• Kids Learning Where Food Comes From, Asian American Character Fans, Leveled Reader Fans, Silly Story Fans, Contemporary Fiction Fans, Field Trip Story Fans, Picture Book Readers

Silver Spoon 1 (Silver Spoon) by Hiromu Arakawa, translated by Amanda Haley
Yuugo Hachiken has chosen to go to high school at Hokkaido Ooezo Agricultural High School, a boarding school that has multiple hectares of land, and gives students hands-on experience in many of the agricultural fields. All of Hackiken's classmates seem to know exactly what they want to do in the future. The only goal he's sure about is that he wants to be top of the class (he's a little obsessed about it). Most of his classmates come from farming families, and he feels like an oddball for more than one reason. Can he survive at a school for agriculture when he doesn't know the first thing about crops or domestic animals? Or is he going to be trampled to death while he mucks out stalls at some ungodly hour of the morning?
This manga series blends a realistic look at modern farming life in Japan, and the hilarious misadventures and successes of an intense city boy trying to survive in this boarding school environment by applying his serious study skills. If you’re looking for a pretty clean intro to manga (only very, very occasional minor swearing and some farm things like animal butchering rarely), this is a fun series. And it really helps city teens learn what all goes into the food they eat.

Target Readers: 

• Manga Fans, Graphic Novel Fans, Japanese Culture Fans, Those Curious about Modern Farming, Boarding School Story Fans, Humor Fans, Contemporary Fiction Fans, Young Adult Readers