Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Sprout Your Own Sweet Scents
Illustrator: Robert Shadbolt
Gardening Kit
For ages 8 to 12
Chronicle Books, 2009 ISBN: 0811861082
Everyone knows that gardening is hard, right? Wrong. It can be really easy to do, and very satisfying as well. In this kit, you are provided with everything that you need to grow three pots of sweet smelling herbs. There are three colorful planters, packets of seeds, peat pellets, and a “guide book.” All that you need to provide is some sunshine and a little water.
In the book young gardeners are provided with directions on how to plants your herbs and how to care for them. In addition readers will learn all about how plants grow from seed, how they make food using the process of photosynthesis, and how they produce flowers. There are also sections about the three plants that you will be growing: spearmint, cinnamon basil, and lemon balm. There are also tips on how to repot your plants when they get bigger, and how to care for them if they get ‘sick.’ The author wraps up with a science project to try, and some recipes that you can sweeten with leaves from your soon-to-be-growing herbs. A “growth log” at the back of the book will help you keep track of your plants progress.
This wonderful kit will not only show children how rewarding it is to grow things, but it will also help them to better understand how plants work.
