Mary Azarian – författare

Donald Hall draws on his own childhood memories and gives himself the thing he most wanted but didn''t get as a boy: a Christmas at Eagle Pond.It’s the Christmas season of 1940, and twelve-year-old Donnie takes the train to visit his grandparents'' place in rural New Hampshire. Once there, he quickly settles into the farm’s routines. In the barn, Gramp milks the cows and entertains his grandson by speaking rhymed pieces, while Donnie’s eyes are drawn to an empty stall that houses a graceful, cobwebby sleigh. Now Model A''s speed over the wintry roads, which must be plowed, and the beautiful sleigh has become obsolete. When the church pageant is over, the gifts are exchanged, and the remains of the Christmas feast put away, the air becomes heavy with fine snowflakes—the kind that fall at the start of a big storm—and everyone wonders, how will Donnie get back to his parents on time?

An alphabet book for families that lovingly celebrates traditional rural New England life, all the way from A to Z. “No matter where children live – on a farm, in the suburbs or the city – they will love this handsome book.”—Smithsonian MagazineBefore she became a renowned children’s book illustrator and printmaker, Mary Azarian was a teacher in one of Vermont’s last one-room schoolhouses. In the late 1970s, the state board of education commissioned her to create “a farmer’s alphabet” to provide balance in the classroom and provide rural children with reflections of their own lives. Those woodcuts, in bold, red-and-black, became this book, A Farmer’s Alphabet.In rustic images that evoke the sights and sounds of daily life on a farm—with its chores, animals, and gardens: A is for Apple, being picked fresh from a tree. D is for Dog, asleep in a cozy armchair. J is for the Jump kids make into a hay mound. N is for Neighbor to chat with across a picket fence. Z is for Zinnia flowers and, of course, F is for Farm.This oversized book, perfect for sharing, represents a side of life rarely seen in children’s books—a realistic view of a working farm as it provides an alphabetical view for children of country life.