LITTLE FARM BY THE SEA

An idyllic accounting of the seasonal activities on a small family-run farm called “Smallholdings.” Chorao (Jumpety- Bumpety Hop, 1997, etc.) opens on the doldrums of winter. As this is a combination husbandry and truck-farm operation, an entire bestiary of animals needs to be fed, with particular attention paid to the hens, who are a key source of income. There are also loads of flats in the greenhouse that need watering. Spring creeps in, fields get plowed, strawberries ripen, baby animals arrive. Through summer and fall, Chorao notes the details that make farms special: swallows nesting in old tractor seats, a collection of antique farm machinery, a clamshell driveway, the contraption that washes eggs. The fine pen work evokes both the tangle and non-stop action of farm life; indeed, the Brown family is so busy that they can’t mind the cash box. They leave an old metal box with change in their selling room (lined with such items as jam, honey, eggs, a scale, a sleeping cat, a bale of hay in winter, and bursting with flowers come spring), a detail that imparts a lingering note of respect for the entire endeavor. (Picture book. 4-8)