ACHUKA

children's & YA recommendations on the go

You are here: Home / Archives for farm

The Little Red Barn by Kim Crumrine

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 5 October 2026

Publisher: Gecko Press
ISBN: 9798348056247

Today’s Book of the Day selection continues our focus on good board books and shows yet again that we rate nearly everything published by Gecko Press.

It’s time for the farm animals to go to sleep in the little red barn. First a mouse, then two cats, three dogs, four chickens, five pigs . . . .

Group by group, the animals trot in, carrying toys and cuddlies and snacks. All of them disappear, bottom by bottom, through the door. But how can so many animals fit inside? Turn the last page to find out how the barn that looks so small has room for everybody!

The Little Red Barn is a goodnight book, a counting book, and a funny joke, as a succession of cheerful farm animals disappear into the very looooong little red barn.

Follow Kim Crumrine on

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A post shared by Kim Crumrine (@wstreetdesign)

I’m intrigued to discover that the book was originally published in Italian as Il piccolo fienile (2024) and that its translator is Antony Shugaar.

My Soul, A Shining Tree by Jamila Gavin

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 11 Nov 2025

Waterstones
Bookshop

“… cannot recommend it highly enough!” BfK 5-star review

Jamila Gavin is the author of some of the best children’s books of our era, notably the Suriya trilogy—The Wheel of Suriya, The Eye of the Horse, and The Track of the Wind— published in the 1990s, and followed by Coram Boy in 2000. Here she is a quarter of a century later, and now in her early eighties, showing that she can still produce fiction that towers above the rest.

See also:
Never Forget You [ACHUKA Book of the Day 11 Jun 2022] 

Based on the true story of Indian WWI gunner and recipient of the Victoria Cross, Khudadad Khan.

The story is told from four perspectives: Lotte, a Belgian farmgirl whose village is the flashpoint for a battle; Ernst, a German teenage cavalry soldier whose grandiose dreams of war lie in tatters; Khudadad Khan, the gunner fighting with the British Army; and a wild walnut tree.

When Lotte’s farm is destroyed in the fighting, she and her sister flee with their young neighbour Michael, to take refuge beneath the walnut tree on the ridge — a ridge currently being defended from the encroaching Germans by Indian gunner Khudadad Khan. There, they are joined by traumatised German soldier Ernst, whose horse lies lost in the trenches of the battle raging below. As their perspectives converge, their shared humanity emerges as a light in the darkness of war, safe beneath the branches of the walnut tree that shelters them all.

I Am Rebel by Ross Montgomery

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 10 Jul 2024

Waterstones
Bookshop

“An emotionally rich picaresque tale for children of ten plus, I Am Rebel leads the reader into danger and then safely home again, as all good children’s books should.” Literary Review

A heart-warming adventure about the unbreakable bond between a dog and his human.

‘I’m Tom’s dog, and he’s my human. We belong to each other.’

Rebel is a good dog, and he loves his simple, perfect life on the farm with his owner Tom – until one day the war comes too close… Now Tom is determined to join the rebellion to defeat the king’s men. But Rebel knows war is dangerous, and he will stop at nothing to save the human he loves. Rebel must bring Tom home before it’s too late.

The Truth about Max by Alice & Martin Provensen

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 27 Oct 2023

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

See also:
The Art of Alice and Martin Provensen
The Provensen Book of Fairy Tales [ACHUKA Book of the Day 9 Nov 2021]

“Alice and Martin Provensen were the American picture book’s Ginger and Fred: a supremely poised and stylish illustrator team who, in a collaboration that spanned nearly 40 years and more than 40 children’s books (19 of which they also wrote and edited), beguiled fans with their deadpan wit, far-flung curiosity and midcentury-modernist flair.”
Leonard Marcus, New York Times [highly recommended review]
“Utterly delightful.” KIRKUS

Here is a never-before-published original work from renowned children’s book duo Alice and Martin Provensen.

In this picture book from the Provensens’ archives, the unforgettable Max, who appears in many of the Provensens’ picture books, takes centre stage. Wherever Max goes, mischief is sure to follow. He spends his days teasing, playing hide-and-seek, and prowling the barnyard. He’s also keenly intelligent and independent, with his own private life that begins at night.

Taking inspiration from their own life at Maple Hill Farm in Dutchess County, New York, great American illustrators Alice and Martin Provensen shared the changing seasons that give rhythm to life in the country in A Year at Maple Hill Farm and the lovable antics of their barnyard animals in Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm. This picture book includes backmatter from Karen Provensen, with more information about Max, the real-life cat who lived on Maple Hill Farm.