Bountiful Red Acres: Two Farms, Two Families, and a Year on the Land

Young readers can get a taste of farm life in the North Carolina Piedmont through Bountiful Red Acres. The story chronicles a year in the lives of two neighboring families―one Black and one White―moving from season to season through the year 1900. Despite the racial inequalities built into American life by both law and custom, the Sawyers and Hauser families share an abiding friendship as they rear children, tend crops, and build community.

Author Eileen Heyes and artist Dare Coulter bring these real Surry County families to life for readers, offering a vibrant look at neighbors caring for each other as they force a living out of the red clay soil that is known today as Horne Creek Farm State Historic Site.

Eileen Heyes grew up in California and has called North Carolina home for almost three decades. Her lifelong love of writing led her into a career in newspaper journalism, which lasted until the industry collapsed in the 2000s. By that time, she had published five books for young people, which have been honored by the New York Public Library, Society of School Librarians International, Child Study Council, and Mystery Writers of America. A perpetual student, she earned a certificate in documentary arts from the Center for Documentary Studies and a master’s degree in English from NC State University. She loves to read (well, of course!), travel, and work in the endless arts-and-crafts project that is her front yard garden. She lives in Raleigh with her brilliant husband and a bossy dog. www.eileenheyes.com.

Dare Coulter, the illustrator, is an award-winning artist. She specializes in public art, specifically monumental sculptures and large murals. She has also illustrated the children’s books Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, You are My Sunshine, My N.C. from A to Z, and An American Story that align with her mission of positive imagery of people of color. See more of Coulter’s work at www.darecoulter.com.