Working Cotton

Written by: Sherley Anne Williams
Illustrated by: Carole Byard

Some may say their typical day is boring, some may say their's is busy or some may even say their typical day is exciting. This story is about a little girl and her typical day. Shelan's day starts out extremely early. She and her family get on busses in the early morning and are taken to the cotton fields even before the sun has risen. They all gather the best they can around the small, smokey fire to try and catch a bit of warmth before they start their long day. Shelan's dad, mother, brothers, and sisters all pick beautiful, fluffy, white cotton and stuff as much as they can in their long bags. Shelan is too young to have her own bag, but she helps her mamma by picking cotton and gathering it in a pile. Shelan also helps by watching her baby sister, Leanne. The cotton rows are so long, and Shelan is amazed how fast her daddy picks the cotton. She never knows if he even ever puts the cotton into his bag because that is how smooth he is at picking it. Throughout the long, long day, Shelan imagines how much cotton she would be able to pick if she were older. The bus never comes until it's almost dark outside, and tired Shelan's day is finally over.

As I have said in some of my earlier posts, my dad is a farmer and the majority of the fields he plants are filled with cotton. I have always be told about the days farmers would have field workers come in to pick the cotton, but I personally I have never seen people pick cotton by hand as their job, especially in today's time. While reading this book, I could only think about how fortunate my family is to have the machines to help us harvest cotton. When I was younger my dad would take me out to our cotton fields to teach me about the ways people use to harvest cotton, which was by hand just like this book describes. I can only imagine harvesting an entire field like that. I think this book will allow students to understand how much hard work people from our past had to do. There are also agricultural teaching concepts in this book as well such as the development of cotton, the harvesting process, and the machines used to harvest cotton in the present and in the past. Also, teach children that many different things are made from cotton. For example, money, clothing, and some stuffed animals. One other thought i have is to ask students what their typical day looks like and if they like their everyday lifestyle. After they have had a chance to share remind them of Shelan's typical day and ask them if they would like to have a day like hers or would they would just rather keep their own. I hope children will be able to take away an understanding of how much hard work was and still is put into agriculture to produce things that make our life so much more comforting.

These are a few pictures from my dad's cotton fields last year at harvest.