Samantha Shoaf Miller, PhD, is something of an agronomist evangelist.

But that isn’t the only reason she wrote the newly published agricultural children’s alphabet book, “A is for Auger.” In fact, the idea for the book started with her son’s fascination with augers. The result is a colorful illustrated cardboard book for young children that takes them through the alphabet with real farming terms.

The book has obviously struck a chord with agriculturally minded folks. Miller said out of an initial run of 1,000, she sold 700 books in the first three weeks after publication.

Her son’s love of augers was the seed that was planted in Miller’s head about creating a book for children to celebrate real terms and objects on a real farm. The entire process, from idea to actual book, took about four years.

Miller remembered that when her son was only 2 years old, he would yell from the back of the car, “Mom! Augers and grain bins!” as they passed a farm on the highway.

“I thought he is not the only kid who loves farm implements,” she said. “I wanted to celebrate that my son had this cool vocabulary at this age.”

And after A for auger – thinking like a mom – she began looking for farm terms that start with B, and then C. And then the book idea really began to grow.

Miller said that one reason she wanted to create a book like this was that her research showed that all the existing farm ABC books were not really using farm terms, but rather terms like apple, barn and cat. She thought young children and their parents (and grandparents) would be interested in reading about actual farming.

Interestingly, Miller didn’t grow up on a farm. “I grew up on the water in Pensacola, Florida,” she said. Her father’s family, however, had been cotton farmers for many years in another state. “I thought that growing up on the water was every day and riding on a combine was a vacation,” she said with a laugh.

She contacted a lot of publishers with her idea. One publisher actually put her under contract, then backed out. “Their philosophy was that little kids like little words, big kids don’t like little books.” Miller did not agree.

So, she decided to go it on her own. She spent a year looking for an illustrator and discovered Karen Flesch, an Indiana illustrator whose work really spoke to Miller.

Miller does think that she has found her target audience for her book: parents and grandparents of farm kids. Someone who doesn’t know what an auger is…well that’s not her target market. “This book speaks to people who grew up knowing these words. I wanted to make it resonate with people who shared this experience,” she said.

“Farm kids do have this cool, unique knowledge,” Miller added. “I didn’t want to water it down for mass appeal. It’s a celebration of farm life.”

After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in agronomy and crop science from the University of Florida, Miller received her doctorate from Purdue University in agronomy and crop science on winter wheat cropping systems and management. Now in a regulatory position at an ag chemical company, Miller is married and has two young children.

Miller’s husband is also an agronomist whose family has a farm in northern Indiana. “We live in the suburbs,” Miller said, “but we spend a lot of time at his family farm.”

Since the book came out, Miller has done several readings at local libraries. Being an agronomist by training and a teacher by nature, she is always trying to help children identify with the terms. In her own family, for example, Miller said they are always looking for things shaped like augers.

“We don’t just have rotini,” she said. “We have cheesy augers for dinner.”

Miller loves talking to others about agronomy, “When I talk to school groups, I ask who grew up on a farm.” Almost none of the children raise their hands. When she asks about parents and grandparents, she sees a few more hands raise in the air.

“It’s incumbent on us to get people to major in agronomy.” She looks at how we are talking about our food more, as well as talking about climate change. Miller thinks many people are interested in agronomy, “they just don’t have that word yet.”

And so, “A is for Auger” is a celebration and an entry into understanding agronomy. And in this little pocket of society, the farming world, that matters a great deal.

To learn more or to order a copy of the book visit https://a-is-for-auger.square.site/