Farms

Audrey (Cow)

Audrey is a cow with poetry in her blood, who yearns for the greener pastures beyond Bittersweet Farms. But when Roy the horse tells this bovine dreamer that she is headed for Abbot’s War, the slaughter house, Audrey knows that she must leave her home and friends sooner than she ever imagined. With the help of a whole crew of animals and humans alike, Audrey attempts to escape the farm she lives on–and certain death. Cleverly written as an oral account, this unique illustrated tale of an animal on the run, told “to camera”, uses over thirty narrative voices, including six humans, four cows, three sheep, two sheep dogs, one pig and a very silly rooster. Full of heart and humor, Audrey (cow) is ultimately a very human story about life and death, friendship, and holding on to one’s dreams–based more or less on a true story.

The Scarecrows’ Wedding

Betty O’Barley and Harry O’Hay are planning the best wedding the barnyard has ever seen. But when Harry sets off to fetch some flowers for his bride-to-be, the wicked scarecrow Reginald Rake tries to take his place.

Millie Waits for the Mail

Millie the cow loves to scare the mailman and chase him off the farm, until the mailman comes up with a plan that ends up pleasing everyone.

Millie and the Big Rescue

A game of hide and seek on the farm goes awry when Millie gets stuck in her hiding place at the top of a tree. But when the farmer and all the other animals try to help, they get stuck as well.

Welcome To Silver Street Farm

What are three city friends to do when a couple of newly adopted baby poodles turn out to be rotten hatch into ducklings?  For Gemma, Meera, and Karl, the answer’s easy– turn the abandoned train station into a city farm!  Throw in a friendly policeman, a chicken-herding dog, and a pair of runaway goats, and you’ve got yourself the start of Silver Street Farm– the little farm in the big city.

Roses For Isabella

Roses for Isabella invites us to experience life in Ecuador through the eyes of a young girl who keeps a journal and loves to write.  We learn about Isabella’s parents who work on one of the hundreds of farms growing beautiful roses that are sold all over the world.  But not all of these farms are fair to worker and kind to the earth.  Through Isabella, we learn how her family’s life changes for the better when her parents find work at a Fair Trade farm.

Sacred Leaf: The Cocalero Novels

The people of Bolivia have grown coca for legitimate purposes for hundreds of years, but the demands of America’s War on Drugs now threaten this way of life. Deborah Ellis’s searing follow-up to the highly praised “I Am a Taxi” deals with this frank reality. After he manages to escape from virtual enslavement in an illegal cocaine operation, Diego is taken in by the Ricardo family. These poor coca farmers give Diego a safe haven where he recovers from his ordeal in the jungle. But the army soon moves in and destroys the family’s coca crop — their livelihood. So Diego joins their protest of the destruction of their crops and confront the army head-on by barricading the roads. While tension between the cocaleros and the army builds to a dramatic climax, Diego wonders whether he will ever find a way to return to his family. This compelling novel defies conventional wisdom on an important issue, and shows how people in one part of the world unknowingly create hardship for people in another.

Migrant Worker: A Boy from the Rio Grande Valley

Describes the way of life of Mexican American families and their children who work as migrant agricultural laborers in Texas.