The Big Field: A Child's Year Under the Southern Cross


Children - Preschool
48 Pages
Reviewed on 12/10/2012
Buy on Amazon

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    Book Review

Reviewed by Jacqueline Ruiz for Readers' Favorite

This is a sweet tale about a group of three children who spend a year with their grandmother on her farm. The book is filled with imagery throughout and simple, yet beautiful illustrations. The children spend a year with their grandmother and learn about farming and about the different types of trees, birds, and flowers. The author goes through each season and month in the story and I found this to be interesting since in the story January is summery hot, the opposite of what I am used to. March and April are autumn, June and July are winter, and September and October are spring! I didn’t catch what country the kids had travelled to, but I would definitely be interested in learning about and hopefully one day visiting it!

You can tell by the choice of words and the actions of the children that they love their grandmother very much and enjoy their time on the farm that “Granny always forgets to plow.” Hopefully, one day she will remember to plow the land and the children will be there to help. Regardless of what country they are in, it is always good for children to be exposed to a different lifestyle, for example, for the girl from the city who is spending a year in the country. I think this book is great for a child of five or older. It talks about Parana trees and different types of butterflies. I especially enjoyed the surprise at the end where the author has the name and species of each bird, tree, moth, plant, bug, and butterfly that is seen throughout the pages. We also get a glimpse of Granny’s wooden gardening trug. Very sweet!