Books About Farms and Rural America for Kids

Living in the extreme northwest corner of New Jersey is one of the most rural areas of the state. Let's celebrate with great children's books about farms and rural American life. These types of books can help us connect kids to nature and even teach our children where their food comes from.

Updated June 16, 2026
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Big red barn
Brown, Margaret Wise
Paper Book
Margaret Wise Brown's simple, rhythmic text about the cycle of a day on a farm, where a family of animals peacefully plays and sleeps, has charmed generations of children. As in her classic Goodnight Moon, Brown engages children and helps settle them down for sleep as they follow along...
Thank a farmer
Gianferrari, Maria
Paper Book
Bread, milk, wool, fruits, and vegetables: things that fill our day to day lives. But where, and who, do they come from? Across wheat fields and city rooftop gardens, mushroom beds and maple forests, Thank a Farmer traces the food and clothing that a family uses back to the people who harvested...
Your farm
Klassen, Jon
Paper Book
"A simultaneously empowering and instructive bedtime tale." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) From the incomparable Jon Klassen, one in a trio of companion board books for the youngest of children This is your sun. It is coming up for...
City Summer, Country Summer
Laymon, Kiese
Paper Book
CORETTA SCOTT KING ILLUSTRATOR HONOR BOOK . A lyrical picture book from the award-winning author of Heavy, about three Black boys who form a deep connection during a transformative summer trip down South to visit family. On the ground of that garden, covered in...
The Farmer's Pajamas: A Bedtime Barnyard Mix-Up
Paul, Ruth
Paper Book
It's mayhem on the farm when the farmer can't find her pajamas in this rhyming, rollicking read-aloud sure to delight every child who has ever had a favorite comfort object. There are plenty of chores on the farm, and the farmer has the routine down to a science. When she's done...
This is the farmer
Tafuri, Nancy.
Paper Book
Just right for toddlers, an appealing book in which each action propels the next, from a farmer kissing his wife, who then pats the dog, to a cat, a mouse, geese, and a donkey....There's a lot to discover and discuss in these expansive, beautifully observed illustrations.
Farmer duck
Waddell, Martin.
Paper Book
Farmer Duck is no ordinary duck--and this is no ordinary picture book. A glorious and utterly satisfying modern fable illustrated with that special blend of humor and pathos unique to bestselling artist Helen Oxenbury. Full color.
Farmer boy
Wilder, Laura Ingalls
Paper Book
While Laura Ingalls grows up in a little house on the western prairie, Almanzo Wilder is living on a big farm in New York State. Here Almanzo and his brother and sisters help with the summer planting and fall harvest. In winter there is wood to be chopped and great slabs of ice to be cut from the...

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