Back in August, First Book was asked to write brief synopses on a selection of 90 children’s books. What a fun project! There we were, reclining in our chairs with our feet on our desks, enjoying a good book in the afternoon. Well, not really, but it did have a certain elementary school, reading-corner kind of feel.

The books were broken down into 3 age groups: Kindergarten-2nd grade, 3rd-4th grades, and 5th-6th grades. We thought it might be fun to feature those synopses here a few at a time; maybe they will inspire you or your child to pick up a new read. This week’s theme is “On the Farm.”

Big Egg, by Molly Coxe. The theme of this K-2 book is that differences can be good. Hen discovers a huge egg in her nest that isn’t one of hers. She tries to find its parents but before she can, an ostrich hatches from it! The baby ostrich helps save Hen’s chicks from a couple of foxes, and after that the hen learns to love the ostrich as much as her other baby chicks. Big Egg has great illustrations.

Tooter Pepperday, by Jerry Spinelli, illustrated by Donna Nelson. This humorous fiction book is for grades 3-4. Tooter Pepperday was not excited to move to Aunt Sally’s farm. How could she live without pizza, movies and the ice cream truck? But when she is given the task to keep a watchful eye on an egg before it hatches, she sees that life on a farm may not be that miserable after all.

A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck. This book, for grades 5-6, follows the life of a boy from a Shaker family who is raised on a farm in rural America, and who discovers through his father’s teachings what it means to become a man. The book is written from the boy’s perspective utilizing an authentic rural dialect. A Day No Pigs Would Die was published in 1972 and has won several awards.