THE FRUITS OF THE OLLYKIN TREE

Book excerpt: In this particular story, Olly goes to see a pantomime called “Jack and the Beanstalk;” this fired up his imagination about growing things. When Olly got back home after the pantomime, he went over to a fruit bowl. He found some nuts in the bottom of the bowl and he asked what they would grow into. As he lay in his bed that night, he had an amazing dream. In that dream, Olly dreamt about a special magic tree called the Ollykin tree. This led him to have a series of other exciting dreams too. In these later dreams, he became the something of a local hero. He became the owner of a large farm and he was able to feed the world. This story aims to show young readers how important it is to grow and to nurture living things. With so many young people now living and growing up in towns and cities few of them get to see how their food is produced. It is also a sad fact that few are aware of the environmental costs to the planet when food is grown a long way from those that need it. This book also makes readers aware of the importance of self-sufficiency in respect to preventing local food shortages. The story also points out that much agricultural land that is currently built on would be better used as agricultural land to produce food for local communities, ( a point which those on council planning committees and government ministers would be wise to take into account when making planning decisions concerning green-field sites). This book is also designed to make young people aware of the suffering of others in far away countries where climate change and seasonal abnormalities damage and destroy crop yields. It seeks to show how those reliant upon such crops can find themselves on the verge of starvation. The story also, highlights the importance of overseas assistance in some cases; not just on a short-term aid basis, but in helping those affected by climate based food shortages, to adjust and to produce hardier crops. .