This is Your Garden

Smith, Maggie

ISBN 10: 0517709937 ISBN 13: 9780517709931

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1998

Synopsis

In this life-affirming picture book, a small sprout of a girl begins her garden with a bit of earth, good tools, and seeds. Then she weeds and waters and waits. As the seedlings grow and then bud and blossom, Maggie Smith's illustrations grow as well. The first pictures are open and spare, but grow richer and more colorful as petunias and poppies and zinnias burst forth with each turn of a page.  

About this title

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2ABrightly colored flowers and a cheerful, round-faced girl invite children to grow a flower garden from seed. Written in the second person, the text describes in general terms the materials, equipment, and procedures needed. Readers are left with the impression that they can grow their own garden, all by themselves; if they are patient, caring, and hopeful, their flowers will be beautiful. "As the little plants grow, some will be straight and some will be wobbly. Some might be thirstier than others. But they will all need you. This is your garden." It's a fine attitude for gardeners, but if beginners don't temper it with some precise and sometimes hard facts, they are likely to come away with some overgrown expectations. There are so many accurate, clear, and inspiring gardening books for children and adults to use together that this one is unnecessary.ACarolyn Jenks, First Parish Unitarian Church, Portland, ME
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

PLB 0-517-70993-7 A primer for young gardeners, tuning them in to the basics for starting a garden and then maintaining it. Smith (Argo, You Lucky Dog, 1994, etc.) gently delivers plenty of advice and information: This is a how-to book, but it is neither dry nor admonitory, and the text is often lilting. Even the difficult notion of thinning is handled well; recognizing that it's hard for a child to root out a plant he or she has grown from a seed, Smith shows children that such plants can be transplantedand ``say you will visit on Thursdays.'' The book also offers a sober, solid lesson in patience, and in the appreciation of nature's great good bounty. Perhaps best of all, in the gathering exuberance of the little girl's flowerbed, there is real provocation to get a garden going, to see if the glorious raucousness of Smith's pages can be duplicated in the earth. (Picture book. 5-8) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0517709937
• ISBN 13: 9780517709931
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 40