Julie Di Sensi
Everybody has dreams, but not everyone dares to pursue them, fearing that they are unreachable. However, it is the pursuit of the dream that makes the person, not success or failure. Julie Di Sensi’s dreams have always been about a better world and working with children to achieve their own dreams. The setting of this book, an organic and sustainable farm, was one of Julie’s dreams that came true, and where she worked for over thirty years and brought up her three children.
During those years, she visited local schools to talk about the farm, read stories to children, and ask them about their dreams. This book is a result of those visits, and indeed is another one of Julie’s dreams. She wanted to create a story to encourage children to pursue their own goals without fear of failure. Julie continues to read stories to children, including her six grandchildren, always with the message that by believing in themselves and working hard, their dreams can come true, too.
This book started in 1995 as a fun idea. I would read drafts to the students at my children’s elementary school when I would go to read stories. The wee life in Pellerrandra and String Bean’s Dream were inspired by the regular daily routine and chores on the farm and of course by my children growing up and their activities for fun and work. Every morning we would walk up the road to pick up mail or drop off letters in the mailbox by the road. The older boys raced up and down dirt roads leaving clouds of dust behind their skid marks. They quickly learned how to climb apple trees, birch trees and tall maple trees. In summer, we would walk the fields, pick flowers or wild strawberries and blackberries to make jam for winter enjoyment. During the summer the children worked in our forty-acre vegetable garden along with other children from the local town. In the hot days after a day’s work in the garden, they all jumped in the pond to cool off. The Pellerrandra Farm photographs shown depict some of the landscape of the farm where this story takes place for you to enjoy and imagine the setting as well.