Because Beanie is too young to help with the corn planting and Old Grampa's too old, the two of them share a story on the front porch instead. Old Grampa tells Beanie about a planting season long ago when the farmers were beseiged with first a flood, then a tornado, next a hot spell and finally crows, so that every last kernel of corn had been carried away by one natural disaster or another. Ever resourceful, Old Grampa had whittled corn to plant that year. Parker's expressive watercolor paintings accompany a text which is half tall tale, half family story and completely entertaining. (Ages 4-8)

Beanie's grandfather tells him about the failure of the corn crop in 1928 and how he was able to make corn trees grow from whittled corn kernels.