Lisa Pelto

MEET ME AT THE FARMERS MARKET is a delightful way to get children interested in the local farmer's markets. The story is told simply, making it easy for children of all ages to understand and enjoy. Seven year old, Sophia loves visiting the Farmer's Market on the weekends with her mother, they even visit Markets when they are on vacation. In this story she meets her friends there, and the story shows the variety of activities and items to purchase. There is face painting, balloon animals, and they love watching all the pets. I often visit local markets and the first time I saw someone pushing their pet in a stroller, I actually laughed out loud. When they left, Sophia and her mom had bought fresh seasonal vegetables, eggs and meat. This was a realistic look at some of the markets I have been too, but they are not all like this.

With the revival of farmer's markets as well as worry about GMOs and farm to table eating, this is a timely story. I loved the illustrations showing all the activities and foods on offer. They really held the attention of my grandchildren, who had been to our local market. They were surprised about the balloon animals and face painting as they did not have that here. This would be a great story to read to a primary class. It would be a great introduction to markets before a field trip or to begin discussions about families and what they like to do together, friends, community and healthy eating. I would recommend this book to families, classrooms and school libraries. So many children think food comes from a supermarket or store, that this would be new information to many. The publisher, Reading is Key Publishing, generously provided me with a copy of this book to read. The rating, opinions and ideas are my own.… (més)

There is nothing wrong with this book and there is everything wrong with this book. How much does poor information in a children's book matter? I am not versed in the discussion but I remember Walter Farley's 1945 nonsense portrayal of camels storing water in their stomach and think that it is a shame that people read it.

First I must say that I am very happy that Ms Pelto has not used "Farmer's" and instead uses the more traditional, common and more correct "Farmers". For those of you who bristle, there is a complex etymological argument that can be summarized by pointing out that we do not say "horse's stable", "Union's Hall", or "Steelworkers' Club".

Otherwise Ms Pelto's vision of farmers markets is very much the white elite stereotype we find in some popular literature and online. The market is a weekly fair, not a business location. The tents are beautiful, high peaked, and snow white. Dogs, music and non-food sales are allowed. The only farmer we see is white and older. We are told to buy the most beautiful vegetables.

Farmers markets are so much more than this. Most importantly, farmers markets are not white. Thousands of farmers, many, perhaps most of whom are people of color, use farmers markets as their primary sales venue and an important source of food.

Sales are from the back of pick-ups. Many heritage cultivars are not beautiful, and sales of "seconds" are important to home food preservers. Dogs are an unhealthy and dangerous nuisance and are mostly banned. Farmers markets take place all week, not just on weekends. The most austere markets, those that focus on farmer profit, ban crafts and non-food item sales because the consumer dollars should be for farmers only. Entertainment, while it may be linked to increased traffic, is only weakly linked to improved sales. Most markets only have entertainment on special days.

Ms Pelto's book promotes elitist stereotypes and we can ask if this is what is needed today.

I received a review copy of "Meet Me at the Farmers Market" by Lisa Pelto, illustrated by Paula S. Wallace (Reading is Key Publishing) through NetGalley.com.… (més)