Tales From The Farm author pays visit to Norsewood School

Jennifer Somervell at the back in overalls and hat listens as the Norsewood children hear from her book, A Very Greedy Tale.

Jennifer Somervell at the back in overalls and hat listens as the Norsewood children hear from her book, A Very Greedy Tale.

The children act out the events of the story. It was on children's author Jennifer Somervell's bucket list to visit Norsewood School.

Her mother Margaret Somervell (nee Andersen) went there, and her stories are set only 7km north-east on the family dairy farm near Kopua, where Jennifer and her siblings grew up.

Now based in Oxford, Canterbury, Jennifer was on tour visiting Hawke's Bay schools.
"I wanted to share the stories in the area they originated," she said. "The Norsewood children were fascinated that the stories were set just a few kilometres down the road. They knew exactly where I was talking about."

The children act out the events of the story.

Her four books in the Tales From The Farm series are all based on the Somervell family's adventures on the family dairy farm, Silodale, in the 1960s and 70s. Each book has a background section with photos and educational material around the true events.

It all started when Jennifer taped her father, Rea Somervell, telling the story of how he blew up the old walk-through cowshed to make way for the latest and greatest — a new rotary.

"I realised dad was getting older and I wanted to capture his favourite story. I listened to it and knew it was a winner."

Jennifer drafted the story in long hand on a nine-hour car trip back to her home in Canterbury. From there, the draft sat in a filing cabinet for years and was resurrected for family reunions.

Then, in a chance conversation with her younger sister Margery Fern in 2010, Jennifer discovered Margery had been painting and had an excellent visual memory of the farm.

They committed to publishing and 18 months later The Day Dad Blew Up The Cowshed was published. It sold out in six months and they realised they had to keep going.

They were then joined by Margery's daughter Ezra André as graphic designer.

Three more books eventuated — The New Old Truck, The Eel Hunt and A Very Greedy Tale and all four have won first place awards in the United States-based Purple Dragonfly Book Awards for excellence in children's literature.

There are at least two more books in the offing, including one called Uncle Alan's Stinky Leg.

The books are currently on sale at New Zealand Natural Clothing, Gifts and Souvenirs in Dannevirke and online at www.talesfromthefarm.co.nz