Little Tractor's Year

*The cheerful green protagonist of this sturdy, good-natured farm chronicle by Wolff demonstrates that small can be exactly the right size. Month by month, the lightly anthropomorphized tractor, which sports googly eyes and a satisfied smile, makes itself indispensable, plowing snow in January, hauling sap in March, serving as part of a farm stand in August, splitting logs in November, and more. As brisk couplets convey its ever-readiness (“You drill the hole./ Insert the tap./ Drip, drip, drip./ I’ll haul the sap!”), spreads rendered in linoleum block prints prove beautifully suited to this story about labor: across the clean, hand-hewn shapes, every mark exudes energy as the tractor collaborates with a child and adult. Beyond the shifting seasonal chores, readers can easily track the changing light and wardrobes, and each month’s subtly incorporated name (carved into a fence, lettered across a row of plump apples still on the branch). Direct, upbeat, and quietly reassuring that everything has its season and everyone their part, it’s a book that, like the little tractor, pulls its weight and then some. – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW * September 2026 *
*A helpful vehicle supports a family through a busy farming year. Whether plowing snow, transporting apples, or delivering animal feed, Little Tractor is indispensable in every season! Starting in January, our hero has a new chore and farm implement to use each month. There’s plenty of educational potential as a supremely competent farmer and child tap maple trees to collect sap in March and “load pumpkins till my bucket’s full!” in October. A reference guide in the backmatter identifying the equipment, especially lesser-known tools such as the baler and the wood splitter, will definitely pique machinery lovers’ interest. Wolff relies on rhyming couplets that chug along as proficiently as Little Tractor; her verse is comfortably paced, with just the right amount of information. Her tranquil, darkly outlined lino-block and ink illustrations capture the idyllic essence of a New England farming community. Wolff leverages the agrarian setting brilliantly, creating a picturesque scene of a verdant orchard dripping with ruby apples; another page depicts the kite-flying child, diminutive against expansive chartreuse fields. The month names are cleverly incorporated into the spacious double-page spreads… . Tractor enthusiasts will want to put this book in gear over and over again. – Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW * September 2026 *

Ashley Wolff lives in Vermont and is the author and illustrator of more than sixty books for children, including the modern classic Miss Bindergarten series by Joseph Slate, and her own Little Tractor’s Year; Wildfire!; Only the Cat Saw; Where, Oh Where, Is Baby Bear?; Baby Bear Counts One; and Baby Bear Sees Blue.

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