REVIEW: IT’S FARMWORKER APPRECIATION DAY!

​Let’s give a round of applause for all the hardworking farmworkers, especially today! And here’s a picture book that imagines what life might have been like years ago for twelve children who grew up on a farm:

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TITLE:           FARMHOUSE

AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR: Sophie Blackall

PUBLISHER: Little, Brown and Company/2022

​OPENING LINES:
 
Over a hill,
at the end of a road,
by a glittering stream
that twists and turns,
stands a house

Sophie Blackall has gone above and beyond with this beautiful, breathtaking, heartwarming book. The text is one long, lyrical sentence about a farmhouse “where twelve children were born and raised,” and the life Blackall imagines they had until they all had gone, and the house lay empty until Blackall discovered it and collected some abandoned treasures that inspired and her to create “this book that you hold.” Sigh. If that’s not enough, Blackall’s art is inspired. She used “scraps and fragments [she] found in the house” to create the illustrations and even included photographs of the remains of the house on the back endpapers. Maybe it’s because I, too, love old things (Blackall begins her author’s note, “I have always loved old things”); maybe it’s because my grandmother was the youngest of twelve children raised on a farm; maybe it’s because I have a large (not twelve) family of my own and can see my children in this book; whatever it is, this book holds a special place in my heart and a prime spot on my bookshelf.
 
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