The Children's Garden: Growing Food in the City

The Children's Garden – Growing Food in the City by Carole Lexa SchaeferI don't know why, but for some reason I expected this book to give helpful tips on growing food in the city or in a container garden. It doesn't.Since this is about a Children's Garden I also expected it to be easy to read. At least I got this one right.I had my nine year old daughter and my thirteen year old daughter take turns reading this to my seven month old. The two older children didn't stumble over the words and stayed interested in the story even though they have read the story four times now. The first few times they read the story to my infant I was busy cooking and I didn't hear the story. My nine month old kept reaching for the pages. She clearly enjoyed listening to the story and looking at the colorful pictures.I can't say much more than this story has the approval of three girls from three different age groups.

The language is lyrical and the author uses internal rhyme, onomatopoeia, and other poetic techniques. It is more of a concept book and does not have characters (except in illustrations) or story arc. The five characters - all children - only appear in the illustrations.

I thoroughly enjoyed “The Children’s Garden: Growing Food in the City.” The busy happy children in this lyrical story will inspire everyone to want a garden, whether it be a single flower pot or something larger. The cheerful sun-filled illustrations have a beautiful earthy quality, vivid yet at the same time soft and airy. I especially like seeing all the children doing their own work from planting and tending to harvesting. Love the seed packets on the endpapers, too! This delightful book is based on a real community garden in Seattle, WA.

It amazes me that the School Library Journal can see so much negativity in this wonderful inspiring colorful approach to gardening. The full page spreads depicting children among the flowers, fruits, vegetables alone are a feast for the eyes. The whimsical approach to the prose fits in very well with the theme & art work depicted on each spread: "In the Children's Garden, boxes, pots, and plots full of dirt and seeds get soaked by showers from clouds or hoses, buckets or cans, so everything stays drip-drop damp-even under the sizzling sun." A boy is shown watering with a watering can while the opposite page shows muted sprinklers watering the plants. The art work leaves the children's races up to one's imagination, as there are blondes, dark haired children with varying skin hues. This book truly celebrates gardening, and is a wonderful introduction of its pleasures for small children.

I found the book to be a very enjoyable read. Ms Schaefer certainly has a fantastic imagination & expresses herself with much panache'! I do, however, find Ms Pauley's illustrations simply breathtaking! Her use of colors, vivid colors, is delicious! Just seeing her work makes you feel like you have a need to see all this woman has to offer on canvas! If this is Ms Pauley's first attempt at illustrating professionaly, god what has she been up to lately!? I'd love to find out! Bravo to these two incredibly talented women!