Food Production Book List
Book recommendations – Food Production
We have grouped books into topics that align with our four pillars of learning – Biodiversity, Food Production, First Nations perspectives and Waste Management.
Know about a book that you think should be included in our reading lists? There’s no better recommendation for educators than from like-minded peers. Please submit your recommendation here.
Title: All Through the Year
Author(s): Jane Godwin
Age group: 3-5
Description: A tender, heartwarming journey through the enchanting Australian year, this delightful tale celebrates the magic of each month, the changing seasons, and cherished holidays through the eyes of one loving family.
Journey through the Australian seasons in this personal almanac of a little girl and her family, opening a window onto each month of her year.
From the celebrated author/illustrator team of Jane Godwin and Anna Walker comes a timeless account of a year in the life of an Australian family. Told through the eyes of a child and featuring each month of the year, this is a book to give, to share and to treasure.
Title: The Great Chicken Escape
Author(s): Brendan Bolton
Age group: 6+
Description: Garden specialist and storyteller Brendan has run kitchen garden programs in Victorian primary schools for many years. In his debut children’s book, The Great Chicken Escape, he shares the true story of some runaway cheeky chooks.
Title: The Seasons of Arnolds Apple Tree
Author(s): Gail Gibbons
Age group: 5-8
Description: This book about nature and the changing seasons focuses on a young boy and a very special apple tree.
Title: Let’s Get Gardening: Australian Eco-gardening Projects for Children
Author(s): Dorling Kindersley
Age group: N/A
Description: Discover easy ways to become an eco-warrior in the garden, with this inspiring and charming Australian gardening book for kids. Let’s Get Gardening is a wonderful start to building any child’s green thumb and encouraging them to do their bit for the environment. This book includes three simple chapters – kitchen gardening, wildlife gardening and recycled gardening – each with easy sustainability projects to inspire everyone’s inner eco-kid. Learn how to grow organic vegetables and herbs, how to attract awesome bees, butterflies and birds to your area, and how to make sustainable garden containers from household waste.
Title: Off to the Market: celebration of markets, cooking, and fresh food
Author(s): Alice Oehr
Age group: N/A
Description: Sunday is market day. We are looking for pumpkin, apples, eggs, and bread. What else will we find? Where did it come from? And what will we make with it?
Learn all about produce in this delightful child’s tour of a food market, full of fun facts, delicious new discoveries, and charming characters. A loving ode to the people who bring food to our table and connection to our community, from acclaimed Melbourne artist Alice Oehr.
Title: Napangardi’s Bush Tucker Walk
Author(s): Lyndall Stavrou and Jann Forge
Age group: Up to 12
Description: Napangardi’s Bush Tucker Walk is a book in which she has drawn on her rich experiences living and working in remote locations of the Territory. The author taught at Mungkarta School from 2002 until 2006 where she saw some of the traditional food gathering.
Title: George The Farmer Plants a Wheat Crop
Author(s): Simone Kain
Age group: N/A
Description: George the Farmer Plants a Wheat Crop is a picture book designed to teach about where food comes from in an explicit way. George and his wife Ruby run a mixed farming property with crops, sheep and cattle, but in this first story George has the job of planting wheat. After a few words explaining to his dog Jessie how and why he is growing wheat, George sets to and gets ploughing and seeding the paddock. Seeding is important work and George loves working with his tractor – but it is also monotonous, and George starts thinking about the football. He’s so distracted by thoughts of footy training that he doesn’t hear the alarm telling him that he has run out of seed. All is well though, because Ruby finishes the job later that afternoon and she notices the problem and fixes it.
Title: Beatrice, Bosley and Bruce, Charlotte, Freda, Jack and Dunedoo Sunny and Ruby
Author(s): Tocal Farm children’s books
Age group: N/A
Description: A series of stories aimed at developing agricultural understanding in young students, as well as an appreciation of the work involved in producing food and fibre on Australian farms.
Title: A Year on our Farm
Author(s): Penny Matthews
Age group: N/A
Description: Every month of the year there are jobs to do on a small Australian farm. Fruit ripens, lambs are born, hay is harvested. A Year on our Farm shows the passing of the seasons through the eyes of the children for whom the farm and all its animals is home.
Title: Costa’s Garden
Author(s): Costa Georgiadis
Age group: 4+
Description: Costa’s Garden follows an illustrated Costa Georgiadis as he shares his expansive garden and flowers with a group of children, encouraging them to see the world in a new way. With their ‘nature goggles’ on, he shows them that ‘the world is so much bigger’. Throughout the book, he explores various types of flowers and their different uses in life, such as in funerals, for tea, and in competitions and shows. Georgiadis also reflects on his personal relationship with flowers, particularly those his grandparents used to grow.
Title: The Little Veggie Patch Co: An A-Z guide to growing food in small space
Author(s): Fabian Capomolla and Mat Pember
Age group: N/A
Description: After years of helping clients grow fruit and vegetables, the Little Veggie Patch Co. crew believe anyone can grow their own food, in most any area in Australia. And in this bestselling easy-to-use guide they show you how simple it is! Fundamentals such as Soil, Climate, Watering, Composting, Worm Farms, Saving and Sowing Seeds, and Raised Garden Beds and Crates are all covered comprehensively – each with fully illustrated step-by-step plans that show how to create your own little veggie patch in any space. A complete A-Z of Edible Plants gives you vital information on more than 40 vegetables (and fruit trees), including detailed planting information, ongoing maintenance advice, tips on best companions and when to harvest. And the Weekend Activities scattered throughout the book will get the kids involved too, whether they’re Making a Scarecrow, Building a Spud Tower or Growing Beans in a Bean Can.
Lots of fun, and packed full of all the knowledge you’ll need – plus recipes and some hilarious stories – this colourful guide is for anyone interested in growing their own food.
Title: Plants Love Compost
Author(s): Suzanne Fletcher
Age group: 4-8
Description: Plants Love Compost is a simple informational text that highlights how household food scraps can be recycled to make compost. It is a positive text that encourages all households to recycle.
If you have a book recommendation to add to the list, please email: juniorlandcare@landcareaustralia.com.au