Free Anna on the Farm by Mary Downing Hahn, Diane de Groat

sitting on the porch, watching the stars come out. Anna is waiting for the moon to swing up above the maples. Soon she'll be sitting on the steps in Baltimore with Mother and Father, looking at the moon and thinking about her aunt and uncle and Theodore far away in Beltsville.
    Just before bedtime, Uncle George asks Anna and Theodore if they would like to go to market with him on Saturday.
    "You must go to bed very early tomorrow, long before dark," he tells them. "And you must get up very early Saturday morning, long before sunrise."
    Anna and Theodore look at each other and grin. Going to bed while it's still light and getting up while it's still dark is upside down, but it sounds like fun.
    Friday afternoon, Anna and Theodore help Uncle George load his wagon with baskets of tomatoes, corn, potatoes, cabbage, peaches, and grapes. It's hard work. The baskets are heavy and the sun is hot.
    After an early supper, Aunt Aggie sends Theodore and Anna upstairs to bed. It's hard to go to sleep. The summer sun slants across the wall and presses against Anna's closed eyelids. Birds sing. Uncle George's dog barks. The day's heat is trapped in the house. Anna tosses and turns. The more she tries to sleep, the more she stays awake. Finally, she gives up and begins to read
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.
    Just about the time it gets too dark to read, Anna falls asleep. The next thing she knows, Aunt Aggie is shaking her shoulder. "Time to get up," she says softly.
    Sleepily, Anna slides out of bed and gropes for her overalls. It's pitch-black darkest night. The moon is low in the sky, just above the apple trees in the orchard. There's not even a glimmer of daylight.
    Anna and Theodore eat their breakfast. They are too sleepy to talk to each other, too sleepy to be excited, too sleepy to open their eyes all the way. Uncle George is outside, harnessing the horses.
    "Run along now," Aunt Aggie tells Anna and Theodore. "Don't keep your uncle waiting."
    Anna stumbles toward the door and staggers down the porch steps. Uncle George swings her up on the wagon seat and sits Theodore beside her. Taking the reins, he clucks to the horses. "Walk on, Bess," he says. "Walk on, Alf."
    The horses are sleepy, too. They walk slowly, heads down.
    "When will the sun come up?" Anna asks Uncle George. She's never seen a sunrise before, not once in her whole life.
    "Sometime around six," Uncle George says. "By then, we ought to be in Washington, D.C., setting up my vegetable stall."
    Anna rests her head against Uncle George's shoulder and watches the sky, hoping to see it turn pink. The wagon bumps and sways over the ruts in the road. Crickets chirp in the dark fields. A small breeze rustles the leaves. Slowly, Annas eyes close.
    When Anna wakes up, it's still dark. They are in Washington, D.C., just outside the market on New York Avenue. Uncle George's wagon is surrounded by other wagons. Horses stamp their feet and neigh. Chickens squawk, a rooster crows, geese honk. Farmers shout greetings to each other as they unload their fruits and vegetables.
    "Wake up, you two," Uncle George says. "Help me set up my stall."
    Anna and Theodore work so hard they miss the sunrise. Anna is disappointed, but Uncle George laughs.
    "My goodness," he says, "don't fret, Anna. The sun will rise tomorrow and the day after and the day after that. Why, that old sun will go on rising long after you and I are gone. You can see it any day if you get up early enough."
    All morning Anna and Theodore help Uncle George sell tomatoes and potatoes, corn and cabbage, peaches and grapes to city people who can't grow their own fruit and vegetables. Some of the women are cooks for rich people, and some are housewives like Mother. They squeeze the tomatoes, they peel back the husks and examine the corn kernels, they sniff the cabbage, they pinch the grapes. If they see a worm, they throw the vegetable back on the cart. If they find a rotten spot in a peach, they throw it back, too. They are just as