The Surprise Garden - Softcover

Hall, Zoe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0590100769 ISBN 13: 9780590100762

Publisher: Scholastic, 1999

Synopsis

After sowing unmarked seeds, three youngsters wait expectantly for their garden to grow

About this title

Review

"We're planting the seeds for a surprise garden. Can you guess what we will grow?" Trace the progress of three small children (and various and sundry dogs, ladybugs, spiders, worms, and butterflies) as they loosen the soil, poke seeds in one by one, water the garden, and watch the small green shoots grow. Surprise! The gardeners find carrots and radishes, broccoli and cauliflower, peas, beans, squash, and even a sunflower. When it's harvest time, the children have a garden party to eat all their delicious produce.

Shari Halpern's gorgeous cut-paper collages look good enough to eat. The sweet, simple features of the young gardeners speak volumes about the thrill and mystery of watching tiny seeds turn into a garden full of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Readers will have a hard time resisting the allure of planting a "surprise garden" once they've finished this delightful picture book, which also includes a helpful guide linking seeds to plants. Zoe Hall and Shari Halpern have teamed up for several other nature-loving books: Fall Leaves Fall!, It's Pumpkin Time!, and The Apple Pie Tree. (Ages 3 to 6) --Emilie Coulter

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 1?Three children are given various seeds for a surprise garden. They plant them, and mark each seed's place with a different color stick. They water and wait, and?voila!?in due time, there is a beautiful garden full of peas, beans, squash, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, radishes, watermelon, and a sunflower. The colorful collages are pleasing and lively. The last page identifies all of the seeds. The problem with this pretty book is that its readers and listeners are in danger of believing that this could really happen. This is a fantasy garden, complete with a bunny who takes only a small bite of lettuce. Seeds of every kind sprout and grow into lush plants, and everything from carrots to watermelon is perfectly spaced. The dust jacket expresses hope that this book "will encourage children to grow surprise gardens of their very own." If it were used as the beginning of a realistic conversation, it would be fun to read.?Carolyn Jenks, First Parish Unitarian Church, Portland, ME
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Scholastic
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0590100769
• ISBN 13: 9780590100762
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Halpern Shari
• Number of pages: 1