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BARN SAVERS by Linda Oatman High

BARN SAVERS

by Linda Oatman High

Pub Date: Sept. 1st, 1999
ISBN: 1-56397-403-7
Publisher: Boyds Mills

Readers will look upon old barns with new eyes after they encounter this straightforward picture book from High (The Beekeepers, 1998, etc.). A boy and his father learn how to recycle old barns that would otherwise be demolished. Instead of seeing the old barns as waste material, the father finds beauty in the rafters and beams that will be put to use in building new barns and houses that may endure for another century. The father passes on to his son a belief that the barn is a treasure, holding secrets to the past that can never be truly known; therefore, it deserves to be respectfully saved. As the gentle story unfolds, the son takes away new understanding, but also a time-worn weathervane. Lewin’s realistic, detailed watercolors portray both the hard work involved in recycling old barns and his own respect for such buildings and their heritage. (Picture book. 5-8)