Tractor Day

Tractor naps.

Time to plow.

Cover off.

Wake up now!

Climb aboard the big red tractor. It's time to get the farm ready for spring. Raking, plowing, and planting the fields is hard work. But working together makes everything more fun.

Sitting atop such a powerful machine is so exciting—especially while wrapped safely in Daddy's arms. Everybody has to pitch in on a family farm.

Let's get to work!

Children's Literature

A day on a tractor is lots of fun! After greeting the crows and taking the cover off the tractor, it's time to get the tractor started. Once it is going, the farmer and his assistant use it for spring planting. The plow digs up broken cups and springs in addition to dirt. After a break for lunch, it's back to work. Once the tractor's work is done, the humans plant the seeds in the freshly-plowed earth. After a long, hard day, both the tractor and humans rest for the night. Ransom shows both the fun and difficult work required on a farm in entertaining and fun-to-read verse. Bryant's illustrations perfectly compliment this idyllic tale of farm life. The reader will enjoy following the animals shown in the illustration yet not mentioned in the text.

Candice Ransom grew up slopping hogs and swatting gnats. Tractor Day was inspired by her stepfather, who would let her ride with him in a cantankerous tractor that dug up many things, including Civil War bullets and quartz arrowheads. Candice is the author of more than 100 books for young readers, including many volumes of The Boxcar Children and Walker & Company's Liberty Street and The Promise Quilt. She holds an MFA in writing for children from Vermont College and lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia with her husband, Frank, and their four cats. Visit her Web site at www.candiceransom.com.

Laura Bryant is the illustrator of many books for young readers, including God Gave Us You. She lives in a converted farmhouse in the Shenandoah Mountains of West Virginia, where her neighbors, who work on family farms, helped her with Tractor Day. She says, "Nothing is sweeter than the sound of an old tractor chugging down the road." Visit her Web site at www.laurabryant.com.