Once in the Country: Poems of a Farm

While the preceding books target adults as well as older children, Tony Johnston's Once in the Country: Poems of a Farm take aim at a younger set. Her brief, simple poems are plain-spoken, casual and evocative. From an ode to overalls, to imagining an old dog's dreaming, to a goodnight to the barn, the poems take pleasure both in language and in farm life. The soft pastels on brown paper by Thomas B. Allen present a cosy and nostalgic view.