posted on 04 Dec 2016

A visit to City Farm by Verna Wilkins, illustrated by Karin Littlewood

I have already written about the recent launch of this picture book and the context in which it was written. Verna Wilkins has a long established reputation as a children's author and is also the founder of the pioneering publishing house, Tamarind Books. This came about in 1987 because she was concerned at the under representation of Black people in books for children at that time. To some extent this lack of visibility has been addressed by more mainstream publishers and the Tamarind distinctive brand has since been subsumed into the vastness of Random House Books. Determined that the message of everyday and recognisable images of Black people should be presented positively in books, she and Simona Sideri have recently founded Firetree Books and this charming little story is published by them.

As with their earlier picture book ‘Abdi's Day’, the author and illustrator use a school trip with young children from diverse backgrounds as the basis for the plot. This is comfortable and familiar territory for nearly all of us, whether as a childhood memory, as a parent or as a teacher. The excitement of the children is palpable as they prepare for the outing to a City Farm with their teachers.

The journey is often just as memorable as the final destination and this is an important part of the story. And so Rainbow class set off across London walking in a crocodile towards the underground station past the ' howling traffic' , along the busy street, stopping to point up at a church steeple and calling out to someone's grandma who works in the flower shop along the way. Once on the train, everyone is helpful and smiley and we get a real sense of the overcrowding which is then balanced on the next double page spread which provides a sense of space as we look at them arriving at the farm as seen from a distance.

From this point, the animals are the focus of the story and I particularly liked the enormous sleeping pig almost filling a page. This contrasts with a later page where we see the energy of some horses galloping towards the children as they watch from behind the fence. In my experience as a teacher, eating a packed lunch on a school trip is always a pivotal part of the day so I'm glad that we get to see what is inside the lunch boxes of four of the children, all very healthy looking stuff of course as per 21st century school policies. 

The plot is very straightforward and provides an authentic, cosy and accessible second hand experience of a visit to a city farm. The soft colourful watercolour illustrations definitely contribute to this atmosphere. Karin Littlewood spent a long time at Chalkhill School in Tower Hamlets drawing real children and this means that she has successfully captured the individuality of expressions and stance with real warmth. I liked the last pages where we see all the animals in the foreground and the children in the distant background waving goodbye as they leave them behind on the farm.

The text is very simple, but do not be deceived by this as every word is carefully crafted. The nine and ten year old children who were co- authors of the book were apparently keen to have lots of rhymes throughout and these provide a good rhythm for much of the book. There are also some interesting facts about the animals clearly embedded in the illustrations and the text throughout including a conversation about eating chickens versus vegetarianism. There is plenty of potential discussion as a follow up here whether at home or as part of a topic about animals in an educational setting.

David Lewis is a children’s literature academic who writes extensively about picture books and he defines the best ones as being where ‘The words are pulled through the pictures and the pictures are brought into focus by the words’.

‘A visit to City Farm’ certainly achieves this with its overall pleasing design that provides a perfect balance between words and illustrations.

Karen Argent

December 2016