Helping children recognise simple farm safety habits is the main purpose of this illustrated story, using Jessy the dog and her three puppies to make the message friendly and easy to follow. It is most suited to younger children, especially those in farming families, rural schools, early primary classes, or visiting a farm for the first time.
When a child is about to visit a farmyard, it can be hard to explain safety rules without making the conversation feel worrying or too adult. Stay Safe on the Farm with Jessy 2022 introduces farm safety through a gentle children’s story, beginning early in the morning with a rooster, a farm gate, Jessy, and her three lively puppies, Emo, Ben and Sam.
The visible pages set up a simple journey into the farmyard, with clear prompts that children can understand and remember. The story mentions going through the farm gate, closing the gate after entering, and keeping a careful eye on frisky puppies, which naturally opens discussion about supervision, boundaries, gates, animals and safe behaviour around a working farm.
The layout is picture-led, with short lines of text that could work well for reading aloud at home, in a classroom, during a farm safety talk, or before a family visit to relatives who live or work on a farm. Parents, teachers, farm safety educators and childminders could use it to start conversations with younger kids about listening to adults, staying together, and noticing what is happening around them.
Because the story uses animal characters rather than formal warnings, it may be especially useful for preschool and early primary children who respond well to illustrated safety stories, farm books and simple read-aloud activities. The named design, concept and authorship is by Lily Nolan, with illustrations by Barbara Nolan Design.
