Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Global Garden
Illustrator: Jennie Maizels
Nonfiction Novelty Book
For ages 4 to 8
Random House UK, 2005 ISBN: 978-1903919163
Did you know that your jeans were made from a plant? In fact lots of things in our lives are grown in gardens and on farms. Of course there are the obvious things like potatoes, carrots, apples, corn and all sorts of other fruits and vegetables. But then there are those other things that are essential in our lives like all the medicines that come from plants, rubber latex that comes from rubber trees, cotton for making clothes which grows on a bush and more.
In this wonderful pop-up, lift-the-flap, and pull the tab book, children will discover that many of the everyday things in their lives are gown in the ground somewhere in the world. They will also learn how plants use sunlight, water and nutrients from the ground to grow and how many of the plants that we take for granted in our lives today originally came from far-away countries. These plants include potatoes, cotton, coffee, tea, and sugar. Imagine if these plants had never been discovered?
A conversational style and lots of hands-on paper devices make this book a wonderful tool to help children understand how much they rely on plant products on an every day basis. The book puts emphasis on how gardens, both big and small, are essential for the well-being of all of us. This book was inspired by the Eden Project in Cornwall.
