(3) K-3 Illustrated by Anne Villeneuve. A boy spending the summer with his aunt while his mother recovers from surgery makes a new friend by inviting a neighborhood kid to join him in throwing some mysterious dirt balls into an empty lot. This easygoing story about how gardens can foster community is illustrated with ink and watercolor art that, like a flower, lends grace to the urban landscape.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Marianne Ferrer. During a visit to her grandmother, young Arianne adventures through time and space in the garden--flying with dragonflies, swimming with fish, and catching a star with her butterfly net. Ferrer's soft, otherworldly illustrations, which play with size, shape, and perspective, pull the reader through Arianne's apparent dream. The book would work better if wordless; the few words are unnecessary and feel like an afterthought.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Genevieve Simms. Mayumi's grandfather, who lives "halfway around the world" in Japan, builds a stone and gravel garden that the two can enjoy when she visits each summer. Simms's watercolor illustrations in soft, earthy tones show Mayumi and Ojiichan growing older--until eventually Ojiichan can no longer live alone and must leave the garden. Uegaki presents a quiet look at traditions, change, and the special relationship between grandparents and children. Glos.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2019

(3) 4-6 Archer and Craig provide an overview of different plant food sources (including roots, leaves, flowers, and stems) and then, with an emphasis on the process, explain how to grow and cook them yourself. Readers are encouraged to try new foods and techniques with sixteen colorful fruits and vegetables. Novel recipes include chocolate beet cake and zucchini and polenta fries. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Paula M. Cairo

(2) K-3 MacKenzie, teased for her "always a mess" hair, turns to neighbor Miss Tillie for help. The story strikes an effective balance between Miss Tillie encouraging self-confidence and explaining step-by-step self-improvement to MacKenzie. While many skin tones are represented in the soft acrylic illustrations, MacKenzie and Miss Tillie share a deep ebony color, contrasted with bright blues, greens, and reds in the patterns and backgrounds.

Reviewer: Eboni Njoku | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2018

(3) 1-3 Translated by Karen Li. Translated from French, this graphic novel for newly independent readers features tiny human Poppy and tiny panda Sam, who live together in a hollowed-out pumpkin in a garden of anthropomorphized plants and flowers. Their solution to the mystery of Basil's leaf nibbler also communicates a lesson in consent ("Everything tastes better when it's freely offered"). The book achieves accessibility through cute illustrations, large panels, and clear text.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh. Arlo accidentally drops a book onto the mayor's head. The mayor retorts, "Books are dangerous...they act like seeds, which grow into ideas, and ideas turn into questions." Books get destroyed and the town suffers until Arlo's stories sprout a burgeoning book tree that inspires others to become book gardeners. The allegorical tale's striking mixed-media illustrations feature lots of books in many different languages.

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty

(3) K-3 Gibbons's signature labeled ink, watercolor, and colored-pencil illustrations are as striking as ever. The spare text introduces flowers' many forms, environments, and life cycles as well as information about flower propagation. Final pages describe creating a flower garden and the many ways to enjoy flowers (cut, potted, etc.); "Flower Facts" are also appended.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Karen Reczuch. A young boy visits a man-made turtle pond inside a public garden during the four seasons of the year, observing the red-eared sliders and speculating about their behavior and activities. The graphite-pencil and watercolor illustrations bring readers up-close to the turtles in this unique habitat alongside humans. An author's note adds context to the picture book's spare, lyrical text.

Reviewer: Renée Wheeler

(2) 4-6 We catch up with the biracial family from The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street in summertime. After an emergency sends elderly neighbor Mr. Jeet to the hospital, the children decide to make a community garden as a surprise for him. While mentions of cellphones and Minecraft set the book solidly in the present, the independence of the children and the goodness and support of their Harlem community provide a timeless sensibility.

Reviewer: Monica Edinger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2018

(3) 4-6 After her stealing compulsion lands twelve-year-old Hush in the Sass, Georgia, sheriff's office, she's offered a second chance working at a plant nursery. Bolstered by a good friend, a compassionate community of quirky characters, and the discovery of her own ability to help others, Hush flourishes. Harkey softens a story of neglect and poverty with a resilient protagonist, distinct voices, and a touch of magical realism.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(3) PS Brown-skinned Errol dreams about a garden of his own. When he discovers the unused rooftop of his apartment building, an idea sprouts: Errol invites his fellow neighbors to join him in planting and growing a garden. While the story is told in very simple text, it's much enriched by the illustrations, which celebrate a diverse and inclusive group of people gathering to create a thriving garden--and community.

Reviewer: Monique Harris

(3) K-3 Dive into Reading series. Illustrated by Shirley Ng-Benitez. Garden finds Lily and friends helping out at the public garden. In Gift, Mei doesn't know what to get her baby brother for his traditional one-hundred days celebration. The small conflicts and friendly city setting, shown in cheery watercolor and digital illustrations, support the easy-reader series' mission to "inspire young readers to imagine a diverse world...in which they can see themselves as the heroes of their own stories." Review covers these Dive into Reading titles: The Garden and The Perfect Gift.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(3) K-3 Evan (an anthropomorphized fox) and his dog enjoy doing everything together, especially working in Evan's garden. Lies's lush acrylic, oil, and colored-pencil illustrations with delicate line work evoke the magnificence of Evan's garden, then his intense sadness and isolation after his beloved dog dies. This tender story of loss, hope, and recovery comes full circle when Evan hesitantly returns to gardening--and gets a new puppy, to boot.

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty

(3) PS Illustrated by Christa Pierce. Two cats plan, dig, plant, and nurture a garden. The spare, upbeat text ends with the cats sharing the harvest with their animal friends. Observant readers will enjoy spotting a worm with a tiny hat in several of the light-filled watercolor and digitally enhanced illustrations. The friendly animals and bright, cheery colors emphasize the mood promised in the title.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges

(3) PS Illustrated by Mike Austin. Vibrant collage-like art follows a family from planting fruits and vegetables to harvesting to bringing them to market, ending in a celebratory summer meal and a midnight snack. The text consists exclusively of words beginning with S ("Shovel soil. Sow seeds"); kids will enjoy finding additional S objects included in the double-page spreads. The entertaining concept book may inspire older kids to write their own single-letter texts.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Olivia Holden. "Once there was a girl who had a little seed of an idea." Against a spare text, gentle, naive-style pastel illustrations show people slowly gathering in the child's gray neighborhood. A lot is cleared. Seeds are planted. Neighbors work together, talk, and share snacks. Ultimately, the dull buildings fade behind the colors of a community garden party in this satisfying tale of hope and cooperation.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Roxanna Bikadoroff. When Lavinia the badger catches a rabbit stealing vegetables from her garden, the rabbit begs for mercy, promising to help with the gardening. Each night bunnies with musical instruments appear and play magical music. Lavinia shares the bountiful harvest, and a friendship is cemented. The rhyming text and gentle, full-bleed illustrations (in ink, watercolor, and colored pencil) reflect the enchantment of a night garden.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges

(3) K-3 This significantly longer follow-up to A Home for Bird includes three short stories instead of just one. Patient toad Vernon gets some unexpected help from a snail, he goes on a nontraditional fishing outing with Skunk and Porcupine, and his two friends cheer him up when he misses Bird. Unfussy mixed-media illustrations perfectly capture Stead's laidback dry wit and lovable, oddball animal characters.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter

(3) K-3 In January, a boy drops a marble in a small hole in his garden, hoping to grow a marble tree. Each month, the hole gets bigger and the ever-hopeful boy drops in progressively larger objects (dinosaur, house, rocket, etc.). A final fold-up page reveals his surprising reward. The deadpan text and black-and-white spot art on verso pages face full-page illustrations of increasingly ridiculous offerings.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges