Harvest Year [Hardcover]

Cris Peterson (Author), Alvis Upitis (Photographer)

Book Description

Photographs and a simple text take youngsters through the calendar year and show the crops growing and being harvested, as well as children enjoying foods of all shapes and sizes and colors.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6-An engaging book about a potentially dull subject: harvesting food in the United States. Fine writing forms the basis of this successful effort: "When it's cold in the northern states, crunchy carrots are dug from the ground in Texas...Grapefruit as big as softballs hang on the citrus trees of sunny Florida, ready to be picked." Peterson's text is spare and clear, with well-chosen details about crops and modern technology: 21 billion pounds of tomatoes are grown each year, cranberry plants can produce fruit for 100 years, each specialized combine hopper holds enough beans to serve thousands of people. Upitis's sun-drenched photographs are consistently excellent throughout. They not only illustrate the huge variety of commercially raised plants and animals in the U.S., but also reflect the great diversity of people, landscape, and weather found around the country. The book is organized simply around the calendar year, one month per double-page spread. Each month features three items grown in three states, a map, captioned photographs, a concise paragraph, and plenty of white space. This is an exceptional offering from the writer/illustrator team who produced Extra Cheese, Please! (Boyds Mills, 1994).
Lee Bock, Brown County Public Libraries, Green Bay, WI
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 6^-8. In a month-by-month spread of vivid color photos and brief text, the author introduces the bounty of crops produced across the U.S. Each month is treated in two large pages that include a map highlighting the producing states, children enjoying one of the products, a picturesque crop in the field, and a piece of unusual machinery. The text contains interesting facts about foods familiar to the young: cranberry plants can produce for up to 100 years; watermelon can weigh up to 100 pounds; one gallon of maple syrup requires 40 gallons of tree sap. The author includes a list of briefly annotated books with an agricultural theme. This engaging book will interest city and country dwellers of all ages, as it provides a pictorial glimpse of the industry behind common grocery store items. Susan DeRonne

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Boyds Mills Press; 1st edition (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563975718
• ISBN-13: 978-1563975714
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,786,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 1997 Ohio Farm Bureau Women's Award for Children Winner, March 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Harvest Year (Hardcover)

This book received the 1997 Ohio Farm Bureau Women's Award for Children's Literature for books with an agricultural theme. It is a wonderful resource for teachers to include when they teach georgraphy, science, math and the language arts.