Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Badger's Perfect Garden
Illustrator: Ramona Kaulitzki
Picture Book
For ages 4 to 7
Sleeping Bear Press, 2019 ISBN: 978-1534110007
On a beautiful morning Red Squirrel sees Badger standing in front of his home surrounded by jars of seeds. Badger collected the seeds last summer, stored them through the cold months, and now he is ready to plant the seeds to create a “perfect garden.”
Badger has collected a lot of seeds and his friends decide to help him to get his garden plot ready. Together, Badger, Red Squirrel, Dormouse, and Weasel weed and rake the ground. When it is smooth they use stakes and strings to make straight rows. Weasel makes holes for the seeds and then the animals plant them.
The next day it rains, which is perfect for Badger’s garden. When it begins to pour down the day after, Badger is not so happy and he grew progressively more and more worried as the weather disintegrates to become a full-blown storm. Poor badger’s neatly laid out garden is washed and blown away.
Sometimes things don’t work out as we planned and the disappointment can be painful. In this story Badger, who is determined to have a perfect, orderly garden, discovers that good things can come out of unexpected situations. As they experience this story, children will discover that joy can be found in all kinds of surprising places.
