Anywhere Farm

by Phyllis Root, G. Brian Karas (Illustrator)

Overview

“ ‘You can grow your own farm anywhere’ is the empowering message of this inclusive picture book.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

You might think a farm means fields, tractors, and a barnyard full of animals. But you can plant a farm anywhere you like! A box or a bucket, a boot or a pan — almost anything can be turned into a home for green, growing things. Windows, balconies, and front steps all make wonderful spots to start. Who knows what plants you may choose to grow and who will come to see your new garden? Phyllis Root delivers a modern rhyming mantra for anyone hoping to put their green thumbs to good use, while G. Brian Karas’s cheerful urban illustrations sprout from every page. After all, anywhere can be a farm — all it takes is one small seed and someone to plant it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536246070
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	10/15/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

“Picture books are performances,” says Phyllis Root, quoting some sage advice she once received. “They’re performances that involve a child—something both of you do. And once I started thinking of them that way, I started getting much looser about making up words and playing around with rhythm.”

Phyllis Root picked up an early affinity for colloquial language while growing up in Indiana and southern Illinois, “where people actually say things like, ‘I got a hitch in my git-along’!” She decided to be a writer in the fifth grade, but it wasn’t until she was thirty years old that she took a writing course with an influential teacher who gave her “the tools” she says she needed. “That’s when I figured out that you could learn to be a writer,” she says. What followed was a series of rollicking stories that take on a new life when read aloud, among them One Duck Stuck, a one-of-a-kind counting book; Kiss The Cow!, an affectionate salute to stubbornness; What Baby Wants, a tale of increasingly ridiculous efforts to quiet an infant that one reviewer compared to an episode of I Love Lucy; and Looking For a Moose, a buoyant tale with a final surprise discovery.

The author does “endless rewriting” before a book is finished, but often starts out by writing her stories in her head, a trick she learned as a time-pressed mother when her two daughters were very young. For example, Rattletrap Car—a joyful celebration of perseverance—began with her playing around with sounds (“clinkety clankety, bing bang pop!”) and calling up bits of old camp songs.

A master of rhythmic read-alouds, Phyllis Root exhibits a range many writers would envy. Her counting book Ten Sleepy Sheep is as serene and lulling as One Duck Stuck is rambunctious. “Counting sheep isn’t always easy,” she notes. “Once, while we were farm-sitting, my daughter and I had to chase down two runaway lambs in the growing darkness, then count twenty-seven frisky lambs to make sure they were all safe for the night. Luckily, they were.” Oliver Finds His Way is a quiet, classic picture book about a defining moment in the life of a small child—getting lost and having the pluck to find the way home. On the other extreme, Phyllis Root takes on no less than the whole universe in Big Momma Makes the World, a powerful, original, down-home creation myth that received rave reviews and won the prestigious Boston Globe–Horn Book Award. And her book Lucia And The Light is a timeless adventure about one brave girl’s quest that was inspired by Nordic lore.

When she’s not writing, Phyllis Root teaches at Vermont College’s MFA in Writing for Children program. She lives with her two daughters and two cats in a hundred-year-old house in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and loves to read (mostly mysteries with female protagonists) or spend time outdoors gardening, camping, sailing, or traveling. “One of the things I’ve learned about myself,” she confides, “is that when I get really stuck and can’t seem to get writing, it’s because I’ve forgotten to take time out to play.”

Editorial Reviews

12/19/2016
Even children who live in dense urban environments can become small-scale farmers; all they need, Root (One North Star) explains, is “soil and sunshine,/ some water, a seed.” A neglected alley is the setting several children choose to start their planting efforts, and Root’s upbeat verse offers playful guidance to readers, using questions (“Where can you plant your anywhere farm?”) and rhyming responses (“An old empty lot/ makes a good growing plot./ But a pan or a bucket,/ a pot or a shoe,/ a bin or a tin/ or a window will do.” Karas’s (A Hat for Mrs. Goldman) smudgy mixed-media art warmly shows a community coming together as citizens young and old join in, building to the unveiling of a neighborhood garden/market. It’s a cheery celebration of community and the hands-on joys of gardening. Ages 2–5. Illustrator’s agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

You can grow your own farm anywhere” is the empowering message of this inclusive picture book...The neighborhood scenes add to the sense of community-building reinforced here. This picture book will be especially beneficial for school units on plants and seeds and for library storytimes with a spring or gardening theme.
—School Library Journal (starred review)

The text focuses on the titular concept of an "anywhere farm," without differentiating between farms and gardens, but this conceit is part of the amusing, rollicking tone. Detailed, soft-focus illustrations in mixed media use an autumnal palette of muted green, peach, and tan...This pleasant look at gardening in a city setting reflects a growing trend.
—Kirkus Reviews

Karas’s (A Hat for Mrs. Goldman) smudgy mixed-media art warmly shows a community coming together as citizens young and old join in, building to the unveiling of a neighborhood garden/market. It’s a cheery celebration of community and the hands-on joys of gardening.
—Publishers Weekly

This picture book beautifully blends effortless rhyming text with soft-hued mixed-media illustrations to encourage young gardeners to start growing something—anywhere...The ending suggests that all it takes is one farmer and one anywhere farm to encourage other gardeners—which just might result in a community everywhere farm. A great read-aloud for aspiring gardeners and farmers.
—Booklist

The diverse cast features a variety of skin colors as well as an infant-toting dad, a man in a wheelchair, and a bunch of pets; the group includes active children, old people content just to sit in a chair in the sunshine, and everyone in between. Inspiring and empowering; friendly and inviting.
—The Horn Book

Such a treasure is Phyllis Root...In her latest, told in kicky rhyme, she celebrates the simple joy of planting a seed anywhere and watching it grow.
—Star Tribune

This would be a nice read aloud to kick off a unit on seeds and plants, particularly in communities where green space is not common, and would be a fun book for budding gardeners everywhere.
—School Library Connection

From the Publisher

01/01/2017
PreS-Gr 1—"You can grow your own farm anywhere" is the empowering message of this inclusive picture book. All you need are soil, sun, water, and a seed. You can plant a farm in an empty lot, a pot, a box, or even a shoe. You can share your seeds with others to spread the food and fun. With cheerful rhyming text and illustrations depicting a diverse group of young farmers, including wheelchair users, this book is sure to find a place in group storytimes as well as in the laps of parents. The text is educational without being dry. Children will get a brief introduction to plants—what a seed needs to grow, what kinds of plants grow from seeds, and what kinds of creatures, such as butterflies and bees, visit them. The text addresses the five W's—who, what, when, where, and why—in a jaunty manner. The mixed-media illustrations include a satisfying amount of detail while retaining a child-friendly sketchiness. The neighborhood scenes add to the sense of community-building reinforced here. VERDICT This must-have picture book will be especially beneficial for school units on plants and seeds and for library storytimes with a spring or gardening theme.—Suzanne LaPierre, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

School Library Journal

2016-12-06
Several inner-city children work together to plant seeds and cultivate their own gardens, transforming their little "anywhere farms" into a lush, green community garden covering a vacant city lot. A pink-cheeked little girl in overalls receives a single seed from a helpful tan-skinned neighbor on the title page, and she then inspires a flurry of gardening in her neighborhood with children and adults of different ethnicities joining in, including a white boy who uses a wheelchair. The bouncy, rhyming text conveys the basic requirements of growing plants from seeds as well as suggesting a wide variety of unusual containers for growing plants. Several leading questions about the plant growth cycle are interspersed within the story, set in large type on full pages that show a seed gradually sprouting and growing into a huge sunflower on the final, wordless page. The joyful text makes growing flowers and vegetables seem easy, showing plants spilling out of alternative containers as well as more traditional raised beds and the concluding, large garden plot. The text focuses on the titular concept of an "anywhere farm," without differentiating between farms and gardens, but this conceit is part of the amusing, rollicking tone. Detailed, soft-focus illustrations in mixed media use an autumnal palette of muted green, peach, and tan that don't quite match the buoyant flavor of the cheerful text. This pleasant look at gardening in a city setting reflects a growing trend. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews