By Clint Thompson
The Georgia Peanut Commission hit a home run with its latest attempt to educate the world about peanuts. According to Hannah Jones, Georgia Peanut Commission Project Coordinator in Research and Education, the commission has released the book, “A Home Run for Peanuts.”
“This book will actually take young readers on adventures from a peanut farm to the baseball park. It goes through the seasons with the main character (Jake), who is a farm kid, who lives on the farm with his dog and his family and just explores the process of peanut farming throughout the year,” Jones said. “It gives a really good overview of what happens during the winter, spring, summer and fall at harvest time.”
Those interested in purchasing the book can go online at Georgia Peanuts or amazon.com or go to the Georgia Peanut Commission in Tifton, Georgia. Costs range from $10 to $14.99 depending on what platform you order from.
The book is written by Amanda Radke and illustrated by Michelle Weber. Weber’s illustrations were based off images that Jones submitted to her.
“For someone who’s never seen this equipment or how the plant grows itself, we submitted photos to her, and she worked off that and painted them. She actually scanned the canvases that she painted directly on,” Jones said. “You’ll notice it’s just a scanned image of a painted canvas.”
Jones said the project took about a year to complete from start to finish.
The Georgia Peanut Commission created a book to help children understand what it takes to grow and harvest the crop, from the perspective of a child.
“A Home Run for Peanuts” was written for second through fourth graders and includes a lesson plan and vocabulary list, perfect for teachers to incorporate into the classroom and just in time for National Ag Day on March 24.
The Georgia Peanut Commission has also agreed to donate a copy of the book to every public library in Georgia, 408 total.
“We wanted to show young readers and their families that farm families and farm kids are normal people as well,” Jones said. “They actually are going to the grocery stores and buying these products and they’re having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and they play sports and you see them at the ballgames just like an average family that may live in a city. We wanted to connect that and show that they’re just regular folks who take pride in their way of life and they produce a home run crop to feed the world.”
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