Barn Savers

The barn is old. The boards are beaten. A hundred years of wind and rain have taken their toll. When you step inside, you can smell the hay and horses. It’s a beautiful place, this barn, in its rugged way. But now it’s time for the barn to come down. Fortunately, the barn will not be crushed by the blade of a bulldozer. It will be dismantled slowly, piece by piece, by the barn savers. The barn savers, a father and son, take care to save everything–the joists, the rafters, the flooring, the roofing. In this way, the barn will never be gone. Somewhere parts of it may live for another hundred years. This is the hope of the barn savers. Linda Oatman High’s story quietly celebrates something beautiful and something old, as a father and son bring down a barn with hard work and respect. Ted Lewin’s dramatic illustrations pay homage to the old barn in all its gray and weathered glory.