(2) K-3 Worm acknowledges very early on that he can’t actually make a sandwich -- he is a small worm without hands, after all. What Worm can do, and with great enthusiasm, is eat garbage and poop it out to make a nutritious base for dirt in the garden that will grow vegetables for the promised sandwich. The lone human child in the story constructs a compost bin and fills it with plant-based food scraps, while Worm makes eye contact to ask for our patience and shares his favorite dirt recipe: “a little of this, a little of that, and compost.” We watch as the seeds for future-lunch are planted and slowly grow, while Worm’s refrain of “I’m sorry, but the [garbage / dirt / poop] is not for your sandwich” tamps down expectations of eating anytime soon. Under midsummer storm–darkened skies, Worm’s doubts set in: “GUUHHHHH!...Why did you ask a worm to make you a sandwich in the first place?” Then the sky clears, and the star of summer (and lunch) emerges on the vine: a ripe, round tomato. This ode to compost is neither preachy nor grody, and Worm is such a charming guide to the growing season that it’s easy to forget he didn’t actually prepare any sandwiches. Lush, cheerful watercolor and pencil illustrations are complex but not busy, and plants and critters are labeled with hand-drawn lettering. Back matter explains the nuts and bolts of composting.

Reviewer: Pam Yosca | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2025

(2) 4-6 In this fantasy novel in verse, spare narration yields jewel-bright imagery of a frozen land where a magic metal -- Fermata -- is necessary for Humans to buy entrance into the Giants' jealously guarded, sheltered gardens. In Lyriana's experience, Songsummoners who sing Fermata into existence -- the protagonist's mother and, someday, Lyrie herself -- are exploited, Lyrie's mother even losing her life trying to make enough metal to save everyone from the cold. Lyrie hopes that rumors of a fabled Orphan's Garden are true -- that an enclave exists where the Winter Spirits don't rule. Meanwhile Brob, a boy Giant whose family had been banished by the Giant King, leads his family toward the secret garden he himself created when he was six. The author's nonlinear storytelling style meshes with the tale's alternating voices and varied poetic structures, creating multiple narratives with intertwined mysteries and payoffs, while poetry aficionados will note, among others, a sonnet, haiku, and sestina tucked in with the blank verse. Themes of trust, interdependence, and the power of music develop meaningfully over the course of this taut, beautifully rendered adventure in which Lyriana and Brob, if they can overcome their differences, have complementary roles to play in ending the tyranny of winter.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(2) K-3 Rose's grandfather is a rug weaver, working mornings in a factory and weaving in the afternoon for friends and family on his at-home loom. Rose loves watching Baba joon's deft hands tie thousands of knots that become a beautiful garden of wool. Taking inspiration from their own garden, Rose draws a design for a rug, which Baba joon cheerfully agrees to teach her to weave. The two make colorful dyes from the garden -- using poppies for red, saffron for yellow, roses for pink, and indigo for blue. Then they dry the dyed yarn in their sunny courtyard. They work side by side, day after day, Baba joon knotting "quickly, quickly" and Rose "slowly, slowly," until one day he falls ill. Rose decides to finish the half-done rug, envisioning the two of them having tea in the garden together, sitting on the rug after it is completed. When Baba joon gets better, roles reverse as Rose now ties quickly and Baba joon more slowly. Kheiriyeh's affectionate narrative of intergenerational love, learning, and appreciation of beauty is based on her own experience with her beloved grandfather in Iran and the artistry of his craft. Textured illustrations in oil and acrylics lean into the natural color palette, while details such as furnishings and architectural elements add atmosphere.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jessica Love. Novesky provides a snapshot of Plath (1932–1963) inspired by her poems and letters about her brief experience with beekeeping. The text moves through the seasons, beginning and ending with spring, in spare, graceful free-verse poems with hints of rhyme and steady internal rhythm and occasionally incorporating (in italics) Plath's own words and phrases: "It is the golden season. / Everything glowing as if lit from within. / The poet can glow and burn, / as if lit from within, too." Practical details about beekeeping are integrated, such as proper garb, how to check a hive and frame, getting stung, pollination, and the production of honey. Love's watercolor illustrations depict Plath (and her braided "crown" of hair) caring for bees and writing poetry as well as the landscape, flowers, and vegetation and many bees up close and in swirls and swarms. The tension between Plath's melancholic moods and lyrical poetry and the hopeful, careful process of beekeeping is captured beautifully here. In the endnote, Novesky provides a brief biographical sketch of Plath and explains her motivation for this story: she wanted readers (who may here be encountering Plath for the first time) to know that the poet was "so much more than her legendary death."

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(3) 4-6 Due to redistricting, Bunny starts seventh grade at a new, unfamiliar school. It’s a rough start — so bad that she tries to misbehave enough to be expelled — but Bunny eventually finds joy, and friendship, in planning and planting a pollinator garden as a class project. Bunny’s passion for insects and plants is evident, even contagious (gardening resources are appended for those interested in learning more) and her “metamorphosis” from wanting to escape her situation to finding a place to belong is deeply satisfying.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Kerns

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Amy Wummer. In the style of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," this picture book uses a diverse group of children and adults to show readers various ways to help protect the planet. A week before Earth Day, they all come together and plan. They embrace recycling, biking, and walking and plant a community garden. Then the night before, they dream of a celebratory butterfly release. Wing’s rhyming text would make for a pleasant read aloud, and Wummer’s colorful illustrations enhance the story’s pro-conservation message.

Reviewer: Marva Anne Hinton

(3) K-3 Translated by Shan Li Bannai Serasis. Illustrated by Cinyee Chiu. A girl and her mother tend to their garden in Taiwan as a typhoon approaches. Their simple, pastoral interaction is about preparing dinner, but the garden stands in for connection to the land and history. The text is in English with Chinese and Pinyin translations and also includes a few words in Amis, an Indigenous language of her family that the young protagonist is learning. Half the illustrations are lush, beautiful images of the landscape, and the other half are starker, sketchlike grayscale images, reflecting the coming rain.

Reviewer: Miriam Steinberg-Egeth

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Gardiner Kate. When Francis's family plants Gaawaandagoonce ("little spruce" in Ojibwemowin) in her grandmother's garden located alongside Gichigamiing (Lake Superior), the tree and baby Francis are almost the same height. The two grow together: "While Francis learned to walk on two little feet, the spruce tree walked in her own way -- stretching her roots out into the ground, where they talked to roots of other trees." Grandma knows that "trees, like people, are stronger together," which is why Gaawaandagoonce was planted near older spruces. Drouillard's inviting text naturally weaves information about trees' root systems and species' interconnectedness into a story about adjusting to change. When Francis's grandparents eventually need to move from their Grand Portage home, the family brings the little spruce to Francis's aunt's house. They carefully and lovingly transplant the tree, but acclimating is tough. Slowly, she connects with the other spruces and begins to feel at home again. Children who have had to move to a new place will relate to Francis and Little Spruce. The gouache and colored-pencil drawings' limited palette is a good match for the text's contemplative tone. An author's note explains that the story is based on a real spruce tree, and Drouillard discusses the importance of land and the significance of its loss for the Ojibwe people. Two Anishinaabe uses for white spruce and a glossary of the Ojibwemowin words included in the story are also appended.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Susie Ghahremani. Memory and connections with the "old country" can be important parts of the experience for immigrant families. In this story, a young girl helps her Iranian (as identified in the back matter) grandmother, Nana, tend her garden, while relishing "the stories she tells me about a garden she knows far away." As the two plant and water geraniums, Nana shares tales of "back home," even though the girl doesn't "know where 'back home' is." There were tall cypress trees, fragrant jasmine, lilac, and hyacinth; there was a fishpond, and fruit trees including cherry, mulberry, and pomegranate. Gouache illustrations on vellum represent a modest Western garden in contrast with the lusher, bursting garden of Nana's memories on the facing page. Paisley, floral, and other distinctly traditional Persian designs adorn the pages in saffron yellows, minty greens, and radish-y reds. These embellishments make a visual connection between Nana's new home and her "back home" memories; the book's playful endpapers also capture this design aesthetic. In this gentle tale, stories are like plants that grow in the girl's imagination, taking root to bloom into cultural pride and intergenerational connection. Author and illustrator notes discuss the importance of gardens for many Iranians as well as the importance of cultural transmission.

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(3) 4-6 Originally published in Swedish, this story follows a group of children who help plant a no-dig garden in an abandoned yard near their apartment building. Alongside the narrative text are mixed-media illustrations and several boxes and labels explaining various aspects of planting; the resulting design is a busy one. Still, young readers will find practical tips to start their own gardens. Additional resources, including a glossary and further reading, are appended.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Kerns

(3) K-3 Food Heroes series. Illustrated by Christy Hale. A market’s diverse offerings motivate Eva Sommaripa to explore gardening, growing unusual herbs and experimenting with new methods of composting. Her unique approach soon brings quality herbs and other plants to Boston-area restaurants, enhancing local cuisine and demonstrating how her work inspires communal pride and fulfillment. Collage and print illustrations alternate between double-page spreads of idyllic farmyards and vignettes of helpful garden inhabitants. Back matter includes an afterword by Sommaripa, information on women farmers in the United States, “Eva’s Recipe for Growing Pea Shoots,” glossary, and resource list.

Reviewer: Russell Perry

(2) 4-6 In this verse novel set in 1999, twelve-year-old Isabel Ligaya leaves her home in the Philippines to reunite with her mother in California. Mama immigrated to the U.S. five years ago to work as a nanny, and Isabel is eager to see her but nervous about leaving her grandparents, her friends, and her beloved sampaguita (jasmine) plant. Having grown up with grandparents who sell vegetables at the market, Isabel is familiar with tending a garden, but the transition to growing a life in the U.S. has challenges. She's self-conscious about her accent, finds making new friends daunting, and is disappointed that Mama spends most of her time looking for a job. Over the course of a year, Isabel discovers what can grow when one nourishes a seed with tenacity, love, and friendship. Respicio conveys Isabel's experience mostly through accessible free verse and narrative poetry, and includes acrostic, haiku, palindrome, tanaga (an indigenous form of Filipino poetry), and concrete poems. The novel brings light to unconventional family structures and hate crimes against Asian Americans elders. An author's note discusses the poetic forms and imagery, as well as the experiences of Asian Americans today.

Reviewer: Gabi K. Huesca | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Hadley Hooper. Spare, poetic text and illustrations rich in color and detail provide a unique insight into a well-known artist. Beginning in well-trodden territory with descriptions of O'Keeffe's (1887–1986) flower paintings, Robinson quickly directs the story to the artist's later life and the ways that not only the natural landscape of New Mexico but also the nourishing acts of tending a garden and feeding friends inspired her art. The text is lean but full of evocative details. Hooper's illustrations focus on the things O'Keeffe loved -- landscapes and natural materials take precedence over people, who are often sketched in black and white over the riot of color of a table of food or a garden full of flowers. One memorable page-turn first shows a young Georgia surrounded by the kinds of small natural objects that intrigued her; on the following spread, many of the same objects are shown much larger and more painterly, leaping out of an older O'Keeffe's head. Back matter includes brief biographical information, more details about some of her sustainable gardening techniques, a list of sources, and O'Keeffe's recipe for pecan butterball cookies.

Reviewer: Laura Koenig | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) K-3 Nature walks and gardening result in an introspective child thinking small (and big) thoughts about the natural world in this quiet, poetic account, effectively told in the first person. The narrator's sister, experienced and knowledgeable about many things leafy and blossoming, makes grand statements about the plants and flowers they encounter. "Magnolias smell like lemon cake," she announces, causing her sibling self-doubt because "they just smell like flowers to me." Her confident observations about quince trees, dandelions, and maple saplings have the narrator wondering how she knows so much, while our protagonist cannot grasp the complexities of goutweed or even name the big tree outside the window. Wong deftly plays with perspective throughout, often showing the children from overhead as they walk through the woods or pull weeds in the garden. Heavy on greens, his pastel paintings have a serene, hazy feel, evoking the season of spring. One striking sequence shows the child lying in bed at night, looking with curiosity out the window at the sparkling stars in the sky. Wong brings the action to a satisfying close when the child finds a plant that even confounds the older sister. They will look it up in one of her books, after they tend to the garden. This book emerges as both a celebration of nature and of a loving sibling bond.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(1) PS Berger's (Finding Spring, rev. 1/15) soothing, rhythmic text guides readers through the wonders of a garden at night, directly addressing them in hushed tones: "If you are very patient and very lucky / you might catch a glimpse of a shooting star." Those stars, bats, the ever-changing moon, and the not-so-scary-after-all foxes and wind appear in intricate cut-paper collages composed of "found ephemera and scraps of paper, including ticket stubs, receipts, and ancient ledger books." Berger's attention to detail in the art, alongside her sophisticated and accessible text, creates a magical nighttime world. This spellbinding picture book will undoubtedly hold children in that glorious tension between wide-eyed curiosity and heavy-lidded drowsiness before they drift off to sleep.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2023

(2) 4-6 Raised by her two papas on a remote island (the setting is loosely based on the Azores), Henna has a gift for plants, so when she learns her papa Niall has incurable cancer, she vows to save him using her plant knowledge. Tales of a nearly extinct specimen with miraculous healing powers, the nightwalker, send her off-island to St. Basil's, the botanical secondary school where a nightwalker seed is rumored to be stored in a secret repository. Henna and another student who calls themself P are both admitted on scholarship, with the requirement that they act in service to fellow new student Lora, the wheelchair-using daughter of the exorbitantly wealthy Windover family. At first standoffish, Lora confides her desire to do more things for herself and later provides help when Henna and P's efforts to find the seed land them in trouble. Issues of disability accessibility, gender identity, and grief and loss figure heavily, yet naturally, in the intertwined storylines. Dairman evokes a Victorian plant-hunter aesthetic while skirting the border of fantasy (the nightwalker is described in magical terms as able to "walk" up the trunk of its host plant, the orange tree), although the affecting ending lands the book squarely in realism. Readers intrigued by the wonders of the natural world will find a kindred spirit in Henna, whose determination and unwavering love for her papas propel this story to its dynamic conclusion.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(2) K-3 Translated by Emilie Robert Wong. Illustrated by Violeta Lopíz. Fontenaille and Lópiz bring readers a deeply affectionate intergenerational story of a six-year-old child and Grandpa Luis. The child admires Luis, a talented gardener who fled war in Spain as a youth and never attended school or learned to read or write. "Dad told me Luis didn't have a chance to be a kid." The grandchild's first-person narration lovingly describes Luis's tattoo-covered arms, his artwork that covers the walls ("Dad says Luis is as good as Henri Rousseau"), his cooking, his guitar-playing, and the idiosyncratic way he speaks: "He says I am 'the apple of his pie,' which means he really likes me." Lópiz's beautifully composed, exquisitely controlled illustrations burst with color, capturing impressions and moments with graceful lines and evocative, layered patterns and textures. There is a particularity to the story and characters that makes this book most memorable and spellbinding.

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(2) K-3 Lanan asks readers to imagine what life would be like as a regal jumping spider as they learn about this creature's traits and life cycle alongside a young girl who is observing one. The child arrives at an idyllic community garden to play with friends and neighbors. She is unaware that "Jumper," a regal jumper spider, is watching from the garden fence. With Jumper's reveal, the illustrations--lush creations in ink, watercolor, and gouache--shift to a spider's-eye perspective: the fence posts now loom large, a huge chickadee flies menacingly close, and tall green plants are everywhere. As the girl happily explores the garden environment, she climbs, runs, and observes her surroundings through sight and sound. Each activity is then paralleled by the hungry Jumper as she moves around the garden in search of prey, and explanations of spider senses--such as acute hearing through fine hairs, eyes that can see all around (demonstrated by an effective gatefold spread), and extraordinary jumping abilities--are provided. In a dramatic action sequence, Jumper finally spots and captures a fly almost as big as she is. Extensive back matter includes additional information about spider anatomy and life cycles, a glossary, and tips for spider observation.

Reviewer: Danielle J. Ford | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2023

(1) PS Illustrated by Sydney Smith. This tender story from the author-artist team behind I Talk like a River (rev. 11/20) pays tribute to Scott's Polish grandmother, whom he visited daily as a child. An opening note explains that she "suffered greatly" during World War II and, afterward, lived in a renovated chicken-coop in a Canadian coastal town. Baba, who "didn't have very much food for a long, long time," stockpiles items from her garden and closely watches her grandson eat lest he waste a bite. On the rainy walk to school, Baba looks for worms, collecting them in a jar, so that she can add them to the soil in her own garden. Her communication is limited to gesturing and, by tracing lines on the boy's hand, she conveys the worms' tremendous worth to the soil. Later, Baba moves in with the boy and his parents. In two moving, gently paced, wordless spreads, the boy brings Baba, lying in bed, a simple breakfast, and silently they eat together--before he heads out to find worms for some of Baba's cherry tomato seeds he has planted in a pot. Smith's observational prowess is a perfect match for this story of quiet, contemplative moments of profound meaning, his nuanced and expressive watercolors capturing years of struggle and sorrow on Baba's face--but also the abundant love she feels for her grandson, who still now picks up worms in her honor.

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Eliza Kinkz. Young Jesús eagerly awaits Saturdays, when he helps his father with their family's­ lawn service business. Papá gives him the responsibility of taking care of the water jug, claiming that it is a magical clock and when the water runs out, it's time to go home. Hilarity ensues when Jesús doles out cups of water to three "super-old" thirsty cats, a dog in a sweater, and some peacocks, and uses lots of water to splash his face. The jug may now be empty, but Jesús and Papá can't yet go home: it's only ten thirty in the morning, and they still have eleven more houses to visit. Papá confesses that the water jug is not a magical clock after all; he had tried to make the day go more quickly by making the jug into a game. But as Jesús tells Papá, they can have fun in other ways. The protagonist's exuberance shines through in his observations of the world. Kinkz's art--in "pencil, ink, watercolor, gouache, crayons, and a few drops of queso"--brings this story to life. The colors are bright; the line drawings are childlike and full of zany energy. The garden-themed luchador endpapers will garner lots of laughs. This book mixes humor with the touching bond between a son and his papá, and a gentle message­ about the preciousness of water as a resource.

Reviewer: Yesica Hurd | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023