Despite sparrows nesting in its engine and rust, bird poo and moss covering the Allis Chalmers tractor, a Hawke's Bay author has put the go back into an ancient farm workhorse.
Sophie Siers, from Waimarama, was a finalist in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in the picture book category with Allis the Little Tractor, winning the Best First Book Award, which the judges described as a perfect blend of text and illustration, with a nostalgic feel without being old-fashioned.
"The book is understated, gentle and warm," they said.
An organic farmer living on the Waimarama coast with her partner and their three children, sharing their farm with sheep, cattle, pigs, ponies, chooks and border collies - and, of course, the Allis Chalmers - it was a natural progression for Sophie to turn Allis into a story book.
"What do farmers do with those old tractors that sit under the macrocarpa trees on their farms?" she asked school children in Dannevirke.