Amara’s Farm, by JaNay Brown-Wood/Illustrated by Samara Hardy, (Sept. 2021, Peachtree Publishing), $16.99, ISBN: 9781682631652
Ages 3-6
The first in a new series from Peachtree, Amara’s Farm introduces readers to a little girl and invites them to help her find pumpkins for her get-together. Amara is hosting a potluck for her friends, and needs pumpkins. First, we take a moment to consider what we know about pumpkins. Using that knowledge, we set off on a series of spreads, guiding readers through different crops that share some properties with pumpkins, but not all. Will Amara find her pumpkins in time? Using a question-and-answer format and descriptive explanations, this is an excellent introduction to properties, concepts, and farm food for kids that may recognize different foods they’ve seen on their own tables, at a farmer’s market, or in a grocery store, while introducing others to new foods like persimmons, figs, and eggplant, and showing kids how they grow: on trees, on vines, even underground. Cheery illustrations are colorful and have beautiful texture, giving readers a real feel for their food’s origins and appearance. Amara is an adorable young girl of color, with a friendly, expressive face and beautifully textured hair and clothing. Back matter includes a molasses pumpkin bread recipe to make with a grownup helper.
I really like this first entry into the new Where in the Garden? series! Being in an urban library system, this is a great way to communicate to my kids about food and how it grows, what they look like, where they can be found. You can explain concepts like shape, color, and textures as you go, and – since I’m fortunate enough to have several fruit markets and a weekend farmer’s market in my library’s community – invite the kids to visit these places with their grownups and describe what they see there. I can’t wait to see more from this series!
Mom Read It 