Book Review of Farmers Unite!: Planting a Protest for Fair Prices
The Children’s Book Review

Written by Lindsay H. Metcalf

Ages 8+ | 64 Pages

Publisher: Calkins Creek | ISBN: 978-1-68437-908-8

What to Expect: Agriculture, Activism, History.

Many picture books portray farms as idyllic places, where cows and sheep graze in sunny pastures and farmers spend their days sowing seeds and harvesting golden fields. Farmers Unite reminds readers that the reality for many farmers has been very different. Telling the story of the 1970s American Agricultural Movement (AAM) and its organized protests, Farmers Unite uses the farmers’ own words to describe the hardships of trying to farm in a consumer food chain that favors big industry and corporations.

Farmers Unite utilizes an engaging documentary-style form of narrative that stitches together interview quotes, historical photographs, and real facts and data to show how uniting to speak out can make all the difference to people experiencing hardship. It also offers a critical look at how government sometimes does not put the best interests of the people first, and how government and the media can sometimes work actively to distort the truth. Supplemented with real historical data about crop prices and farming expenses, this book explores mature themes and encourages young readers to think about political issues—it is refreshingly challenging as well as enjoyable.

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About the Author

Lindsay H. Metcalf grew up on a Kansas farm, flew the coop for a career in the city, and migrated home to write downwind of the neighborhood cattle. She is a journalist and author of nonfiction picture books: BEATRIX POTTER, SCIENTIST, illustrated by Junyi Wu (Albert Whitman & Company, September 2020); FARMERS UNITE! Planting a Protest for Fair Prices (Calkins Creek, November 2020); and NO VOICE TOO SMALL: Fourteen Young Americans Making History, her co-edited poetry anthology (Charlesbridge, September 2020). Lindsay has covered a variety of change-makers as a reporter, editor, and columnist for The Kansas City Star and other news outlets. At home, she plays the ukulele and sings made-up pop-song parodies, embarrassing her husband, two sons, and a variety of pets.

You can reach her at lindsayhmetcalf.com.

Farmers Unite!: Planting a Protest for Fair Prices, written by Lindsay H. Metcalf, was reviewed by Dr. Jen Harrison. Discover more books like Farmers Unite!: Planting a Protest for Fair Prices by following our reviews and articles tagged with rhyme and dessert.