Farms mean lots of hard work, problems, and death.īut there were wonderful moments-holding a warm lamb in my lap as it fell asleep, watching frisky lambs race across the pasture at dusk, listening to ducklings peep happily as they followed their mama. I managed to come up with a handful of eight-sentence stories about Ruby the sheep for Candlewick’s Brand New Readers series, but it was difficult to write cute farm stories when I knew that farms weren’t really all that cute. After awhile I found the time and energy to write again. We learned to treat animals for diseases and conditions that are best left undescribed here.įarming eventually became easier as we got the hang of it. One morning I found the remains of a lamb that had been killed by a coyote. It wasn’t unusual to find a dead chicken in the chicken house now and then. Yet I was constantly hearing this from well-meaning friends and family: “You must get so many great ideas for children’s books living on your farm.” At the end of the day, I had no energy left for writing. All my ideas for children’s books dried up. Starting the farm-and learning how to keep animals alive-took so much creative energy that my writing career was literally ‘hit’ by a farm.

We bought fifty sheep, some goats, ducks, three hundred chickens, and away we went, clawing our way up the steepest learning curve I’d ever faced. This image was so strong that I forgot a few things about myself: I knew nothing about animals, I hated hard, physical labor, and I hated getting my hands dirty. I imagined sitting out in the pasture, surrounded by gently grazing sheep as I penned award-winning picture books. Enjoy!Ĭhildren’s books and farm animals are a perfect match, right? That’s what I thought when my partner Melissa asked me to help her start a farm. To celebrate, we asked author Catherine Friend to share the story behind the book. We are excited that it has been reprinted and is back in stock with the publisher after having been listed as OSI for some time. The Perfect Nest is a fun read-aloud that will liven up any storytime session whether it’s with a group of kids in a classroom or library or as a one-one-one reading choice at home.

Hit by a Farm by Catherine Friend