A green thumb is not required for enjoying these reads!
Who owns the beautiful garden in Mary Ann Hoberman’s Whose Garden is It? That’s the very question asked by Mrs. McGee, who happens upon a lovely garden during her daily stroll. The proud gardener introduces himself as the gardener, and boasts that no one is allowed in his garden without his permission, which allows him to keep it in tip-top shape. He’s in good spirits today, so he allows Mrs. McGee to wander through his garden.
The gardener returns to his weeding, but not without noticing that he is missing some lettuce. Perhaps that’s due to the rabbit that lives in the garden (and who seems rather indignant that the gardener claims the garden to himself).
However, the woodchuck believes that the garden, in fact, belongs to him. So do the bird, the worm, the wasp, the butterfly….and so do the many other small animals that make their home in the garden. Even the seed, whispering beneath the ground, makes his voice heard to Mrs. McGee.
Whose Garden is It? is a gentle and beautiful exploration of a colorful and very busy garden. It fosters an appreciation for the small but significant animals (and seeds, soil, rain, sun, etc) that help maintain the growth of the garden.
Jack’s Garden by Henry Cole is a variation of the “This is the House That Jack Built.” “This is the garden that Jack planted.” We see a very confident and proud Jack standing in the soil. A variety of gardening tools are labeled: watering can, hoe, hose, trowel, garden claw, and so forth. “This is the soil that made up the garden that Jack planted.” We get an in-depth view of the many animals that live in or on the soil: cicada, beetle larva, slug, and even a star-nosed mole. We see the seeds, the rain (including the labeled cirrus cloud and rain gauge), the seedlings, the plants, the buds, the flowers, the insects “that sipped nectar from the flowers that blossomed from the buds….”, the birds that chase the insects, and finally, the beautiful young garden planted by Jack, with a little help from his friends.
The text is simple and works well as a short read aloud. However, the real delight is in the illustrations and the labeling of the tools, insects, flower parts, birds, and so on. This is not a uncommon combination in picture books focusing on a particular concept; however, doing so can result in very crowded and overwhelming illustrations. Jack’s Garden is not one of those books; Henry Cole has created an admirable balance between the labels, illustrations, and text.
Many picture books about gardens seem to take place in suburbs with plentiful acreage, and usually cultivated by Caucasians. Eve Bunting’s Flower Garden pays tribute to the small but very loved window gardens found in city apartments. We meet a young African-American girl and her father shopping for flowers at the supermarket; after checking out, they ride the city bus (“garden sitting on our laps/people smile at us!”), peopled by the many ethnic groups that make up a city and transfer the flowers to the garden box (“garden in a window box high above the street/where butterflies can stop and rest and ladybugs can meet”). This is a very special garden box, for its meant as a birthday present for the girl’s mother. The little girl watches as the candles are lit (we see her mother opening the door in the background), and see her mother’s surprised and delighted face when she sees the windowsill garden. The last illustration is of the entire family gazing at their lovely new garden, highlighted against the backdrop of the city’s skyscrapers.
This is definitely one you want to include in a garden storytime; the illustrations by Kathryn Hewitt are spectacular, and the excitement felt by the little girl in creating her own little corner of nature in the big city is delightful. Flower Gardenis an adorable and important balance in a garden-themed storytime.
Other stories to include:
Planting a Rainbowby Lois Ehlert
Butterfly Butterfly: A Book of Colors by Petr Horacek (takes place in a garden, reinforces the concept of colors, and has a fantastic butterfly pop up at the end: your toddlers will love it!)
Tell me about your favorite garden picture book!
Books Mentioned:
Bunting, Eve. Flower Garden. San Diego: Harcourt Brave Jovanovich, 1994.
Cole, Henry. Jack’s Garden. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1995.
Ehlert, Lois. Planting a Rainbow. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988.
Hoberman, Mary Ann. Whose Garden is It? San Diego: Gulliver Books, 2004.
Horacek, Petr. Butterfly, Butterfly: A Book of Colors. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press,
2007.