The Curious Garden ~ Picture Book & KID KANDY

A garden that is curious?

By Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell

The Curious Garden
By Peter Brown
(Little, Brown and Company; 2009)

The Curious Garden is a picture book that was inspired by the Manhattan Highline Railway.

I've read articles about the Highline that tell how the lonely stretch of railway has been transformed into beautiful public gardens. But this is the first picture book I've found on the topic.

The Curious Garden tells the tale of Liam, a young boy who explores the empty spaces to find railways breaking down and nature taking over. Liam decides to help. Together, Liam and the garden grow and explore the empty spaces.

"The garden was especially curious about old, forgotten things."

I love that sentence. The garden is not just a thing in this book, but one of the main characters!

The Curious Garden (doesn't the title take on a new personna after you've read the above sentence?) will delight explorers and nature lovers.

KID KANDY:

Nature Walk

I walk almost every day through my neighborhood. When I walk tomorrow, I am going to look for places that nature is acting curious and spreading in unexpected places.

How about you?

Ask a parent or sibling to walk with you.

Look for:

- weeds growing in sidewalk cracks
- flowers springing up in odd spots
- old rusted things covered in grasses or vines
- moss creeping along damp, shady areas
- nature that is being mysterious and curious as it expands to new areas

What did you see?

The Promise ~ Picture Book & KID KANDY

The Promise by Nicola Davies

The Promise
By Nicola Davies
Illustrated by Laura Carlin
(Candlewick Press, 2013)

A young girl lived in a dead city. Gray, lifeless, hard, concrete, no plants. To survive, she had to steal. Her heart was as hard as the city.

But one night, the girl tried to steal a nice, fat bag from a woman who walked all alone down the street. The woman resisted long enough to make the girl "promise" to plant all of them.

All of them turned out to be not food and money as she had supposed, but an entire forest in a bag!

The girl kept her promise and wandered the city, planting acorns as she went. Slowly, as the trees sprouted and grew, the city was transformed. So was the girl.

The Promise is a story about hope. It is also about the healing properties of nature on green-less areas. Readers will be encouraged to enjoy the green in their lives and seek to add more where there is none.

KID KANDY:
Plant a Seed

Materials: seeds, trowel or spade, water

1. There are so many seeds. You could choose any type you want to plant. Just consider if you want plants that grow quickly (flowers, vegetables, grasses) or those that take years to mature (trees, bushes).

2. Find the perfect location. Dig a little hole and add seeds (or seed). Cover with soil and water.

3. Watch and wait.

While you are waiting, ask an adult to help you check the the Arbor Day Foundation (Arbor Day Foundation). This group loves to plant trees and educate families about the importance of trees. I am a member and each year when I pay my dues, I can ask for baby trees. Right now I have several that are ready to be planted in the ground. Yay!

The Gardener ~ Picture Book & KID KANDY

The Gardener
By Sarah Stewart
Pictures by David Small
(Farrar-Straus-Giroux, 1997)

Lydia Grace Finch had to go and live with her uncle in the city when times were rough and her parents were out of work. She lived during the Depression times. She traveled to help at her uncle's bakery, but she didn't go alone.

Lydia Grace Finch carried along a great variety of seeds. She loved planting and gardening with her grandmother. She planned to carry on her gardening tasks in the city.

Lydia did plant seeds, bulbs, and plants. Pretty soon, people were not calling her Lydia Grace (like her grandmother). They called her The Gardener.

The Gardener is a lovely book told completely through letters. The illustrations perfectly fill in the gaps and tell the story along with the words. I loved this book!

KID KANDY:

Plant Seeds

Be like Lydia Grace Finch and beautify the area around your house, yard, or apartment.

1. Buy or ask for some seeds and potting soil. You can grow flowers or vegetables or anything else that comes from seeds. I love growing kale, radishes, and green beans. They are yummy.

2. Fill containers with soil and plant seeds. Or find some dirt and plant seeds. Make sure to keep them damp while they are getting ready to sprout.

3. Continue to water and watch the seeds sprout and grow.

Now we can call you The Gardener!


P.S. What did you plant? Did the seeds grow? I would love to hear about your gardening adventures!

Sunflower House ~ Picture Book & KID KANDY

Sunflower House
By Eve Bunting
Illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt
(Voyager Books, 1996)

I have been reading tons of picture books lately. At least my back considers the weight of them to be tons as I haul them back and forth to the library.

Sunflower House is a colorful story about a child who plants a sunflower house with his parents. I suppose that is where the name for the book comes from, right?

Father and child first removed grass to make a large circle, leaving the middle of the circle grassy. Seeds were then planted in the soil and the waiting began.

Once the sunflowers began to grow tall, the child invited friends to play in the sunflower house. Eventually, the sunflowers grew so large and wide that the parents no longer fit inside and the flower house became a kids-only place to enjoy nature.

I love the idea of creating a fun space for children by planting sunflowers. I am considering it for this summer...if I can find a place that my husband won't mind too much if the grass is removed and seeds upon seeds will eventually fall and resprout next spring!

KID KANDY:

Plant a Sunflower House

Materials: sunflower seeds, large area to plant, yard tools

1. Read Sunflower House. Once you see the pictures you will know how to plant one.

2. Choose a sunny location for your sunflower house. They love the sun. Remove grass to form a ring of dirt around a circle of grass. Make your ring at least 4 feet in diameter. Sunflowers get HUGE!

3. Plant seeds in the dirt. Water them and wait.

4. Once the seeds have sprouted, watch them grow. You can pull weeds but only after you make sure you are not pulling up sunflowers.

5. After the sunflowers are as tall as you, the house is ready for play. Of course, it will keep growing, especially if you have planted JUMBO sunflowers.

6. What to do inside a sunflower house?

- rest on your back and look at the sky
- watch birds that flock to eat the seeds
- listen to the bees buzzing as they pollinate the flowers
- have a picnic in the sunflower house
- invite friends over to play
- campout overnight in the sunflower house
- look for insects that live in and around the flowers
- draw your sunflowers or the sunflower house
- use a magnifying glass to look really close at the plants and animals
- take photos of your house

Isn't that a fun project? What will you grow next summer?

Thanks for reading!

Quiet in the Garden ~ Picture Book & KID KANDY

Quiet in the Garden
Written and illustrated by Aliki
(Greenwillow Books, 2009)

Such is my love of gardens and green spaces that I have a special soft spot for books about gardens. I particularly enjoy picture books for boys and girls that encourage them to want to explore, plant, and embrace gardens as a wonderful feature of nature.

Quiet in the Garden is one such book.

A young boy goes out to the garden. He knows that if he is very still and very quiet, he will see and hear many wonderful things. He does such a fantastic job of both observing and listening that his imagination takes hold and he notices the meanderings of garden animals as they eat and visit with one another.

In the end, the boy harvests and shares produce with the animals at a picnic. There is plenty for all.

P.S. I love his fenced garden which comes complete with a pond, fruit trees, shade trees, and pathways between garden beds. I know you will, too.


KID KANDY:

Visit a Garden

~ Does your community have an arboretum or rose garden? Maybe a neighbor or grandparent has a nice garden. Ask to go on a visit.

~ Take only yourself, and maybe a little notepad and colored pencils (and a parent to drive you).

~ Sit very still and be extremely quiet.

~ What do you see? What can you hear? Who is in the garden? What busy insects are around you? Are there any other animals? What plants are growing? What do you smell?

~ Lie down on your tummy. Watch for awhile. Close your eyes. Did you notice new things that you missed when you were sitting up tall with your eyes open?

~ Move to a rock or bench. Sketch some of the things you see in your notepad.


Aren't gardens awesome?

Jack's Garden ~ Picture Book & KID KANDY

Jack's Garden
By Henry Cole
(Greenwillow Books, 1995)


It's that time of year. For me, I am picking out hundreds of sunflowers seeds gone wild in the middle of the strawberry bed. Not to mention digging out the little clover roots that have invaded the same triangle garden. Last fall, I loved the groups of birds foraging in my overgrown sunflower patch. Unfortunately I allowed a few strays to grow. They took over. This year, my laziness has been found out. So the weeding progresses.

Meet Jack.

Jack's Garden is a book about a, well, perfectly tilled, measured, and planned garden. Each two-page spread tells what Jack does in his garden. Borders are edged with tools, garden critters, life cycles, and so on. Jack is not lazy though. He wants flowers to take over his garden so he can enjoy the ladybugs (detailed life stages illustrations), birds, bees, butterflies, and all of those other wonderful animals that frequent flower gardens. The end result is beautiful.

Readers will learn much about gardens and wildlife when they read Jack's Garden. The illustrations are labeled, so everyone can tell which is a ladybird larva and which is a bee balm flower. This nature book not only allows the reader to learn, it is a good scientific source for accurate information and gives suggestions for planting your own flower garden to attract wildlife.

Jack's Garden is a great resource for gardeners of any age.

KID KANDY:

Plant a Flower Patch

~ With mom or dad, choose a spot to clear of grass or other plants. Dig up the soil and mash up the dirt chunks.

~ Smooth the dirt with a rake or your hands. Doesn't the soil feel nice and cool?

~ Decide on which flowers you want to plant. Sunflowers? Black-eyed Susan's? Daisies? Maybe you want a mix of seeds and a surprise.

~ Get your seeds.

~ Read the package directions together to find out how deep to plant the seeds. Plant them in your flower patch dirt.

~ Gently water the soil and keep it moist until seedlings sprout.

~ Continue to water. Wait to pull weeds until you are sure which sprouts are weeds and which are flowers!

~ Enjoy the beautiful flowers that bloom. Spend some time watching to see who visits your flower patch - bees, butterflies, robins, cats, slugs, ladybugs, and spiders may check out your flowers.

~ Don't forget to take pictures of your beautiful flowers!

Terrific Tuesday - Linnea in Monet's Garden - Picture Book & KID KANDY

Linnea in Monet's Garden
Written by Christina Bjork
Drawings by Lena Anderson
(R & S Books, 1985)

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, when all wear green, I would like to share a book about a green space - Linnea in Monet's Garden.

Claude Monet is one of my favorite artists. My husband and I were blessed to visit Monet's home and gardens outside of Paris when we spent some time in France. I was in love, following the meandering pathways, admiring the gorgeous flower gardens, touring his home, and snapping photos like a crazy woman. Perhaps I was crazy. It's not every day one gets to view the inspiration for so many wonderful works of art.

Linnea and Mr. Bloom, a former gardener, embark on a journey to travel to Monet's home and gardens. Linnea in Monet's Garden is a wonderful book. It's part history, part speculation, part art lesson, part nature lesson, and even a gardening book of sorts. Giverny is beautifully represented as Mr. Bloom and Linnea explore, paint, have a picnic, and enjoy an outing worthy of a bucket list dream.

This book is perfect for those ready to visit France during summer break. It is also just as good for those who cannot go, but want to learn and maybe someday take a long trip to visit Monet's Giverny.

KID KANDY:

Paint a Garden or Visit a Garden

Dig out acrylic or watercolor paints. Help your child secure heavy paper to a clipboard or table. Study flowers, trees, rocks, or bushes to see the lines, colors, and shapes. Let your child experiment with ways to capture nature on paper. You could even join in the fun!

Visit a garden! Many larger cities have public gardens or arboretums. Pack a picnic and take your child on an outing such as the one Linnea went on with Mr. Bloom. Cameras are great for recording the beauty (and images can be used later for painting practice). Make sure your child gets a chance to take some shots of the nature at its best.

Angie Quantrell loves gardens and gardening. She dreams of visiting other fabulous gardens where weeds do not belong to her and beauty is a feast for the eyes.