The Year at Maple Hill Farm

Title: The Year at Maple Hill Farm
Author: Alice and Martin Provensen
Major Themes: Farm Life, Calendar, Time, Seasons
Synopsis: The events on a farm through the year are illustrated with delightful, old-fashioned pictures and sparse text.

I end up not reading picture books to my little boys very much. When the oldest children were young, I read a lot of picture books to them, but gradually, as they grew older, my read-aloud selections followed their level and the little ones don’t get the same type of stories as the older ones. For that reason, I’ve scheduled a few picture books into our read-aloud time for the younger ones so that they get some!

The Year at Maple Hill Farm was one of our stories this week. It is a beautiful, older picture book about the seasons on a farm. The pictures are all hand-drawn, and look somewhat like folk art. Each month of the year is covered with a two-page spread, or sometimes an extra two pages, and tells what is happening on a farm in the northern United States, maybe England, in each month. January and February are snowy and not much happens; baby animals are born in March, and so on. Because we live in the southern hemisphere, I had to explain to my little boys that this book shows what it is like where Grandma lives! Here, our seasons are opposite.

The Year at Maple Hill Farm is a good way to introduce months of the year, and seasons, to your little people. They will love all the pictures of farm animals.

No warnings!

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The Black Fawn Hank the Cowdog Series Dolly the Milk Cow James Herriot’s Treasury for Children