Introducing Mr. B. – The Farmer Collection The Farmer Collection is the first of three books, which are assembled stories for children inspired by Robert Burns Poems. The books are organized to suit different reading capabilities and this first book is for New Readers. There are four short stories – Bug Off – William nudges his brother Robert and points to an ugly black bug on a lady’s hat. The Farmer and the Field Mouse – This mouse’s troubles don’t end after the farmer knocks over his straw nest. The Day My Pet Died – Craig is upset when his friend Hugh tells him his pet sheep died. The Farmer’s Favourite Old Horse – Wendy finds out why her father takes such good care of their old horse. The stories are enjoyable with uncomplicated dialogue and only draw on the plot of the poems. There is no attempt to use rhyme and they are not constrained by what is in the original poems. That is the main part of the book. At the back of the book we have included the original Burns poems. To ease the reading and understanding of some of Burns old Scots words we have put a line by line interpretation of the meaning. We expect that this will be too complicated for a child to read on their own but it will enable reading with a more mature member of the family. It is our hope that exploring these poems in this way will awaken an appreciation of Burns work and lead to a desire to find out more. At least more in the other two books of the series.
