Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Young Gardener
Photographer: Anthea Sieveking
Nonfiction
For ages 5 to 7
Frances Lincoln, 2006 ISBN: 978-1845072957
Working and playing in a garden offers children all kinds of opportunities to learn about nature, to learn about plants and the food they eat, and to have plenty of fun. In this book the authors take a look at a garden at different times of the year. Season by season they describe what might be going on in a garden at that time of the year and what a child can do in a garden during that season. In each section they give very careful instructions on how to go about projects in the garden and how to make things which they have harvested from the garden as well. For example in the mid spring section they describe, with text and illustrations, how to plant a hanging basket. In the early summer section they explain how to dead head plants and how to sow seeds in succession. In the mid autumn section they show children how to clean out and carve a pumpkin.
This excellent book will help children see that a garden is a wonderful place to play and explore. Watching a garden change as the seasons unfold can be incredibly rewarding and the projects in the book are both creative and hands on, giving children the chance to try all kinds of new things. Artistically presented in an easy to follow format with lots of illustrations and photographs, this is a perfect book to help children see that gardens are not just for grownups.
