Lovely story about a little girls trip to the farmers market. The illustrations are wonderful and full of detail! I miss farmer's markets.

Such an adorable little book to get children interested in shopping locally. This is very easy for young children to both understand and enjoy. I love the way it illustrates all the fun surprises one can find at a farmer market.

Thanks to NetGalley and the published for the ARC.

Though the illustrations by Paula Wallace are nice, bright and full of dainty colors, the storyboard misses the whole point of introducing a kid to 'farmer's market': appreciating fresh food, home-grown organics, healthy and earthly choice-making, more balanced diet, with huge varieties in every category to choose from, supporting local economy, local growers and creation of jobs through the 'market' while helping the environment (less oil used in travel time to get to consumer; preserving farmlands; less greenhouse gases spread across the skies), talking to 'kitchen-gardeners' and introducing kids to more natural way of life (maybe grow a few themselves), leading to a calm, stress-free peaceful state of mind and appreciation of simple things and a great way to spend some time with family without heading for a movie / smartphone / playstation / football, baseball, volleyball game / beach / staying in one's room all day. Yes, these markets do have a fun fair kind of vibe which is always catnip for kids, but they can have popsicles in Walmart too! In this book, the 'special / unique element' in the farmer's market versus local grocery store is missing. Also, the change of seasons is not highlighted: what you get during snow/ winter season as opposed to summer and spring in terms of veggies, meat, fruits and flowers and herbs, honey and even crafts. There is a dazzling array of produce here one doesn't get to see in a normal grocery store on an average day. The variety, quality of meat is also unique and all are domestic and grown by the guy selling them! You get to meet real farmers and kids can ask them questions. They find out women and men both are farmers / ranchers / cooks who are working with their own children in pulling up crates and arranging stuff and selling. There are unions of such farmers markets and usually one farmers market brings producers /harvesters / farmers / ranchers / craftsmen from 1 - 20 counties! That's a lot of variety of people (experience, life stories, backgrounds, culture) coming together to sell their product at the same place at the same time! I don't know whether a seven-year old kid should understand about costs / prices (because some things may seem expensive in the long and short run to the consumer) but sustaining such markets leads to low prices for both production and purchase. Also, usually these markets produce pesticide-free, hormone-free, preservative-free, artificial-additive-free stuff and provide paper / cloth (non-plastic) bags to put and carry stuff in. There is usually a cooking station too where fresh food is being cooked. It's a fun, natural, practical place without the carousel to introduce kids to, which has a direct impact on the family and its relationship with food!

It's good that the social aspect of farmer's market is highlighted in the book, but it lacks in pretty much everything else.

Exquisite children story about the experience and the importance to buy local.

#MeetMeAtTheFarmersMarket #NetGalley

Such a fun book! I am a huge supporter of farmers markets and buying local and this perfectly captures the spirit and fun of the local markets from the perspective of a child. My children have so much fun at markets and I believe that all children should learn and have the opportunity to visit and experience one. This would be great for any classroom or home library. Bright illustrations complete this book's simplistic charm.

Meet Me at the Farmer's Market follows Sophia on her weekly trip to the market. There she meets her friends and goes to the different food stands. This book builds vocabulary through the different produce Sophia talks about and the stands she visits. There isn't a strong narrative or lyrical text, so this story might be more difficult for a younger reader to engage with. It's strength lies in its introduction to a city activity children might not already participate in.

What a joy it was to publish a book of my own after so many for other authors, and to have Paula Wallace join me in the project to provide the lovely illustrations. Everyone loves the illustrations! Thank you Paula!

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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.

This is a beautiful, colourful, easy to read book for youngsters. I read it to my 4 year old grandson and he was thrilled with it as he goes to the Farmers Markets every weekend and loves to cook with his Mums.

Highly recommend this book.

Very cute, I would suggest it for older kids as it would be slightly boring for the younger ones. The illustrations are great, but a bit repetitive. I love how it helps get the reader interested in the Farmers Market, so important!

Meet Me at the Farmers Market

written by Lisa Pelto
illustrated by Paula S. Wallace

Sophia is seven years old and one of her favorite things to do is to go to the local Farmers Market every weekend with her mom—regardless of the weather and even if they are on vacation. Meet Me at the Farmers Market has appealing, colorful line art created by Paula S. Wallace. Author Lisa Pelto has tapped into the current revived interest in buying local and organic and entertainingly walks children through what it is like to go to a farmers’ market. Sophia meets her friends there, and it is a community event complete with pets and musicians. There are fun things for kids like face painting, balloon animals, and delicious food snacks. Sophia and her mom buy fresh seasonal vegetables, eggs and meat.

This is a fast and easy read that children can enjoy as a read aloud and later read by themselves. It offers many possibilities for discussion about families, friends, community and eating clean and local.

I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Reading is Key Publishing (Concierge Marketing) for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4/5

Category: Children’s Fiction, Food

Notes:
1. Age Range: 3-7 years
Grades: K-3
2. I wonder if it is typical for animals (besides service animals) to be allowed at a Farmers Market.

Publication: June 8, 2018—Reading is Key Publishing (Concierge Marketing)

Memorable Lines:

Mom always tells Farmer Dan, “Your eggs are the freshest, and that’s no yolk!” Farmer Dan says, “You crack me up! See you next week.”

This was a brightly and simply illustrated (by Paula Wallace evidently - to my very inexpert eye - in sweet watercolors) young children's book aimed at introducing them to the delights of the farmer's market, but for me it did not get there. Our host is a young girl, seven-year-old Sophia, who each week goes with her mom (who seems to have an inordinately long shopping list!), and while this would superficially seem to be the way to do this, I felt that an opportunity was missed here.

Sophia shows us everything from her PoV, which on the one hand is a great 'in' for other young kids, but on the other, it missed out on teaching young children about good, wholesome, healthy food, and if that's not your aim, why go to a farmer's market?! Most kids these days think food is what comes from the packages on the shelves at the local supermarket. Or worse: from a vending machine. Even an organic food store or a co-op or something like that still has food on shelves. The beauty of a farmer's market is that the foods are laid out very much like they were when they were first pulled from the ground or plucked off the tree or bush. There's a panoply of sensory delights to be had here, but we seemed to have bypassed those on this outing.

This connection with the farmer and with the earth is a crucial one that children need to understand and I got none of that from this book. The book focused on Sophia's limited joys of visiting: seeing families with their dogs, playing with balloons, people-watching. In 17 pages, only four or so actually talked about the food, and none of those related to it in any real way, much less conveyed the hard work or the growth of food from the soil, or to the importance of nurturing our Earth, or of climate change making an impact, or of eating healthily and exercising.

There was barely a word about the joy of being outdoors or relating that experience to food grown outdoors. All we got was a mention of the weather. Nothing was said about the taste of fresh veggies or the smell or feel of touching fresh, whole food. Instead we got the kids eating popsicles and other junk food. There was nothing about where the food came from and what was involved in producing it. No child would want to read a story that simply and boringly lectures them, but for me, this was a truly wasted opportunity to carry a real message, subtly woven into the fabric of the fun stuff. Humans have five senses, all of which delight young children, but the only one that really got any sort of an outing here was the eye.

To me, this book felt lazy in its approach. I wish the author and illustrator all the best in their respective careers, but I cannot recommend a book that fell far too short of the fine goal it ought to have set for itself and for our children.

The sights and sounds of a [big city] farmers market come to life in the pages of Lisa Pelto's new book, Meet Me at the Farmers Market. Ava and her mom buy fresh farm goods every week without fail: rain or shine, at home or on vacation. Readers will enjoy visiting each booth with Ava and her three friends. Ava describes the produce she likes best in each season. Ava's market offers musicians, face painting and balloon animals. It's the highlight of her week to shop with her mom.

Pelto's book would be a great introduction to children about various kinds of foods prior to visiting a farmers market in their own area. Buying locally grown produce is a fabulous way to not only support farmers but also a great way to enjoy fresh and healthy foods! I highly recommend this book for school and classroom libraries. It's a perfect supplement for a unit study on food and nutrition.

Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of Meet Me at the Farmers Market from NetGalley for the purpose of review. No other compensation was received.

Meet Me at the Farmers Market is a very cute book for small toddlers. It has beautiful illustrations and it made me want to go to a farmers market! I think it's probably a sweet way of encouraging kids to go to the market and appreciate fruits and vegetables. I would love to buy a copy for my daughter!

This book could have been a lot better. It's rather generic and clearly illustrates farmers markets in rich, white, urban areas.

Our family goes to a variety of farmers markets regularly in our area, and none of them have the circus tents, face painting, hot pretzels, lemonade, cinnamon rolls and organic dog treats that are depicted as part of the farmers market in this book. The narrator says that she and her mom visit farmers markets all over, but only this rather rich, white, urban version is shown.

There's not enough focus on the food available (and no food from other cultures shown at all) and no mention at all of WHY it's great to shop at farmers markets -- and no, it's not for the face painting and treats. What a wasted opportunity to talk about the variety of cultures, about supporting local farmers, about helping the environment, about the greater variety of foods offered, about the fact that it's fresher, and on and on. Instead, it's presented as just a fun place to hear some music, see your friends, eat treats, and shop for some standard American produce.

I love seeing children's books that encourage kids too be interested in a wide variety of vegetables and fruits! This book would be a great introduction to farmers markets. The illustrations are cute and colorful enough to draw a child's attention.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book! The comments are my own, unbiased opinion.

I love reading this because full of illustration that will help children to figure it out what is Fresh Market from the picture. And the writing style is good as well as the story that unique and fits for children around 2 or 3 years old.

I've already write the review on my IG.

Really loved the story, especially as a lover of fresh produce. It would be a great way to introduce kids to markets and vegetables and a fun reading experience in general. Personally, though, I found the illustrations underwhelming, especially for a vibrant market scene with fruits and vegetables!

Great picture book, otherwise!

I really like this children's book! It tells of how wonderful farmer's markets are along with charming illustrations. This book makes me want to spend more time at farmer's markets! :)