Ever since we moved to the outskirts of Chicagoland, my eldest has attended schools even farther west than where we live… and we’re out there! These big brick buildings are on the absolute fringe of the metro area, beyond paved grids and tightly sown rows of houses, and into the quiet surround of corn and soybeans.
Along these rural roads, scattered here and there and truly everywhere, are local farms. Each has its own special charm. Heritage Prairie Farm in Elburn, Ill., has a lovely farm-to-table dinner (during normal non-pandemic times). I went there last fall with my very best friends, Colleen and Madelyn - fellow Mizzou J-school grads and my London flatmates exactly 20 years ago.
Windy Acres Farm in Geneva, Ill., has a little bit of everything. A giant jumpy pillow, a corn kernel sandbox, stair-climbing goats, and pumpkins-a-plenty, making it a favorite stop for school buses and family vans in search of fall fun.
Just last week, the girls and I visited Rustic Road Farm in Elburn, Ill., where several of my neighborhood friends get their CSA. We picked up a delicious Friday night dinner from the market and stopped to say hello to the animals in the barn.
The glow in this stall reminded me of the light found within the pages of BESS THE BARN STANDS STRONG, the beautiful debut picture book of author Elizabeth Gilbert Bedia, illustrated by Katie Hickey (Page Street Press), which releases Sept. 8, 2020. Here’s the cover, in all its autumnal glory…
Illustration © Katie Hickey 2020
Sweeping, steady, lyrical and tender, BESS THE BARN STANDS PROUD delivers all the feelings of fall in a touching narrative about a trusty barn named Bess, who ushers her farm through celebration and hardship, and into the hope of the future beyond. Here are three things that I love about BESS THE BARN STANDS STRONG:
Powerful Personification
The story begins on the day that the main character, a barn, is raised into being. The farmer names her Bess, and from that moment on, Bess is alive with emotion and intention. She flings her hearty doors open to welcome the animals. She steadies the cows with her sweet song. She gathers the workers within her cozy walls. Through gestures of love and guardianship, Bess holds the heartbeat of the farm.
Bedia’s writing in BESS THE BARN STANDS TALL is measured and precise, yet warm and comforting. With a delicate brush, she paints setting, character and community on every page, giving the story a firm footing in the prairie, while also breathing life, depth and dimension into an inanimate protagonist.
Illustration © Katie Hickey 2020
Luminous Link
The color that moves through BESS THE BARN STANDS STRONG is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. The peachy skies. The ochre fields. Clothing of jade, juniper, pistachio and pear. Katie Hickey, illustrator of the picture book LUMBER JILLS (a favorite of mine), is a perfect fit for Bedia’s rural tale and its tight-knit cast. Her cheerful, lively and familiar compositions convey the intimacy and vitality of the family farm.
Hickey gives “life” its own special hue - the color yellow. Golden light enters the story when Bess first opens her barn doors. It bursts out and encircles the animals, glows upon the farm’s celebrations, and twinkles as the barn’s builder quietly leaves the world. When this mellow tone leaves the story at a pivotal point, you feel it.
Illustration © Katie Hickey 2020
New Beginnings
After many years of companionship, the farmer who built Bess dies. A new farmer enters the story, a man with big plans, which don’t include Bess. He constructs a shiny new barn for the animals, relegating Bess’s rickety aging structure to the margins. The richness of the story’s color palette washes away. It seems the vibrant days of the past are gone forever.
Then one day, a storm barrels down on the farm, wreaking havoc on the land. The new barn’s integrity is compromised, putting the animals in danger. Though Bess is a shadow of her former self, still she stands - ready and eager to help the animals she loves. The turn of events ushers forth a new beginning on the farm: a return to the farm’s joyful, celebratory roots.
Illustration © Katie Hickey 2020
BESS THE BARN STANDS STRONG arrives on library shelves, and in homes across the country, at a strange time. The creators of this book never could have predicted a global pandemic and the longing that many of us continue to feel for unrestricted days and hours with those we love.
Though we often grow weary from the rigors of this different way of life, like Bess we do our best. We stand strong and weather the storm, protecting those we cherish and holding out hope that brighter days are coming. It’s a metaphor that holds true in any year, decade or century, but it’s especially poignant today.
BESS THE BARN STANDS STRONG is Elizabeth Gilbert Bedia’s debut picture book. Bedia is a former teacher and audiologist, who loves to stand in old barns and listen to all the sounds. BESS THE BARN STANDS STRONG was inspired by a real barn in Bedia’s neighborhood. She lives with her husband, two teenagers and two dogs in central Iowa. Katie Hickey is a freelance illustrator who blends hand rendered print processes and digital methods and finds inspiration in her travels and surroundings. Hickey lives in Surrey, England.
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