Contact Information
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.gordonfredrickson.com
Book Category: Children’s Fiction, Picture Books, Young Adult Fiction, Adult Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry
Age Group: toddler to 5, 6-8, 9-12, young adults, adults
Books
A Farm Country Haying, Ill. by Sidona Malz, Photographs by Nancy A. Fredrickson, Beaver’s Pond Press, to be released 2020.
What Colors Are Tractors? Ill. by Nancy A. Fredrickson, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2019.
Raising Little Duck, Ill. by Sidona Malz, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2017.
If I Were A Farmer: Making Hay (Bilingual in Spanish and English), Ill. by Sidona Malz, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2016.
A Farm Country Silo Filling, Ill. by Robert Williams, Photographs by Nancy A. Fredrickson, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2015.
Farm Country Moments: Poems, Pictures, and Memories, Photographs by Nancy A. Fredrickson, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2014.
A Farm Country Harvest, Ill. by Robert Williams, Photographs by Nancy A. Fredrickson, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2013.
What I Saw On The Farm. Ill. by Bradley Simon, Photographs by Nancy A. Fredrickson, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2013.
A Farm Country Picnic. Ill. by Michaelin Otis, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2011.
If I Were a Farmer: Tommy’s Adventure. Ill. by David Jewell, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2011.
If I Were a Farmer: Field Work. Ill. by David Jewell, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2010.
A Farm Country Thanksgiving. Ill. by Michaelin Otis, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2010.
If I Were a Farmer: Nancy’s Adventure. Ill. by David Jewell, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2009.
A Farm Country Halloween. Ill. by Michaelin Otis, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2009.
A Farm Country Christmas Eve. Ill.by Michaelin Otis, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2008.
Highlights
Born in New Prague, Minnesota, Gordon W. Fredrickson was raised on a 120-acre dairy farm in hilly, rocky eastern Scott County, MN, and like all of the local farm children he began farm work as a young child. He attended a one-room country school for three years before it was consolidated into a part of a larger school district where he had to be bussed to town.
Gordon served in the U.S. Army for three years, earned a Master of Education Degree at the University of Minnesota, and taught high-school English for 16 years. During the first five years of his teaching career, he and his wife Nancy owned and farmed 160 acres in western Minnesota where they raised cattle, hogs and grain. Since the year 2000, he has been writing and performing entertaining stories with the purpose of detailing the grim realities of growing up on a small farm in the 1950’s. He has written 15 books so far and has many more planned. He and his wife Nancy recently completed A Farm Country Haying, a nonfiction book for adults containing hundreds of photos and stories from farmers and former farm kids. Presently, he is working on Mags, a three-act play depicting the sexual harassment of women in the work place in the 1970s and efforts of nonsmokers to force management to implement the rules of the 1975 Minnesota Clean Air Act.
Awards
Reader Views Reviewers Choice Award 2010
First in category toddler-5 for If I Were a Farmer: Nancy’s Adventure.
Second in category 6-8 for A Farm Country Halloween.
Honorary Chapter FFA Degree from Collegiate FFA, University of Minnesota, Crookston, for promoting farm literacy and preserving farm heritage.
Presentations
Content of Gordon’s programs varies according to the age and interests of the audience, but generally they consist of projecting images on a large screen while he does some or all of the following: gives an introduction, recites his Prologue to Farm Country Tales, demonstrates some farm tools or activities, reads part or all of one of his stories as the illustrations are projected on the screen, and gives a conclusion that includes explaining his purpose and motivation for writing. His program for historical societies includes the story about how his parents got started farming in 1940 when they had no money. These are a visual program that Gordon has been doing for kids and adults in elementary schools, historical societies, retirement homes, museums, libraries, farm shows, and senior centers for 19 years. Program length ranges from 25 minutes for Kindergartners to 50 minutes or longer for adult audiences, as requested. He has entertained over 52,000 adults and children with his programs at over 1,000 locations.
Fees
Program fees are $25.00 per program plus round-trip mileage from Lonsdale, Minnesota at $.50 per mile.