Books like Now In November

First published in French and illustrated with wonderfully vivid art, this is a story of a farmer who works hard mowing, raking, digging, watering in his fields. He rejoices when things begin to grow, but a drought threatens all his hard work. The farmer is not alone, though, in his efforts, and the art shows the farm animals helping, followed by rain falling and bringing his fields to colorful and joyful abundance. Hard work matters, and so do friends.

This book is about something as disruptive to a child’s world as can be–a parent’s debilitating mental illness–and Baldwin handles it realistically and sensitively.

Twelve-year-old Della is terrified and heartbroken by her mother’s struggles with schizophrenia, and I know as a writer that Baldwin faced a huge challenge in telling this story: finding where the hope lies when, ultimately, there’s no cure for the mom.

The answer lies in acceptance and community, and Baldwin handles this in a way that feels wise, real, and satisfying to me. This book is also close to my heart because it is set in a part of the world I know and love, rural eastern North Carolina, and Baldwin describes it so beautifully.

I mean, not sure how much I need to say about the delight this book has brought to children since 1952. After being asked to read it to a group of first graders recently, I dissolved into tears having to read the scene where Charlotte dies, alone. The students that day thought I was silly. Yeah, as a kid, that didn’t bother me much. As an adult, well.

There’s something in this tale of love, friendship, and courage for all ages. Excellent for read-aloud if you are willing to commit to using different voices and really hamming it up.

John Steinbeck’s third novel (written in 1933) explores faith and belief with a heavy dose of mysticism, pagan rites, and fantasy. The story follows Joseph Wayne to California where he establishes a thriving ranch. With a fierce connection to the land, Joseph’s beliefs are at times a raw blend of biblical and pagan. After his father dies and a drought strikes the land, Joseph’s good fortune disappears and his faith is tested. Steinbeck was better known for East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath, but this book is my favorite. It feels at times gritty and uncomfortable, but it is also intensely authentic.

I loved this book because it shows how class disparity still exists, how it complicates a teenage love affair and transcends family secrets.

As a reader, I found myself rooting for all of the main characters, though they are facing impossible choices, working against each other and their own best interests, which are mercurial and contradictory.

Fast-moving and propulsive storytelling.

I still remember reading this book, which takes place on a farm in Iowa. It was my first glimpse of the idea that something so epic could be set in a place that I thought of as so boring.

Smiley's retelling of King Lear is one for the ages and a good lesson that greatness is only limited by your imagination, not your geography.

You’d have a hard time finding a funnier, more captivating first-person narrator than D.J. Swank. Growing up on her family’s farm, hoisting hay bales, and playing pick-up football with her brothers, it’s no wonder D.J. has the strength, ability, and desire to play on her high school’s football team. The two things I love most about this book are D.J.’s sheer joy in physical movement and Murdock’s depiction of how the hard work required to master sports skills can build self-confidence and a sense of achievement in young people. The characters are a bit older than those in most middle-grade books, but with nothing more controversial than the drinking of a beer, this is a book kids in the upper range of middle grade will love.

Mudbound is about post-WWII in the Jim Crow south. It tells the stories of two returning soldiers in a muddy farm setting. I was raised on a dairy farm with plenty of mud, so I easily identified with the setting. The situation of the two men, one White, one Black, and their families' struggles, physically with the constant mud, and emotionally with the politics of both the era and the place, were graphic. It was a book that was difficult to put down and also difficult to read. In ways I was reminded of 12 Years A Slave.

Divine, divine, divine! This novel taught me so much about the landscape in Appalachia. The female characters were rich and deep. Running throughout the story was the thread of women standing for farming systems that partner with nature versus male characters who want to dominate or decimate.

It was musical and mystical, and I just adored being transported to the cabin in the woods and the rich gardens of the women who knew how Mama Earth rolls. There was also a wonderful exploration of female desire. It was lush and leafy, and I’m so grateful to Barbara for writing this book

I aspire to be like Charlotte A. Cavatica, the highly intelligent spider and creative artist here. When she weaves the words “Some Pig” into her web to help save her friend Wilbur the pig from slaughter, and the farmer tells his wife, “[W]e have no ordinary pig,” the wife quite rightly corrects him: “It seems to me we have no ordinary spider.” I love Charlotte not only for her extraordinary loyalty as a friend (working all night and sacrificing meals by devoting her web to messages about Wilbur), but for her devotion to words (“terrific” and “radiant” are impressive vocabulary for a spider, and highly suitable adjectives for a pig-rescuing project). 

Above all, I applaud Charlotte’s humility. After tirelessly creating her spun language masterpieces, she backs into a corner of the barn, allowing Wilbur to take the spotlight for her efforts. Even as she succeeds in garnering wide attention… show more.