In celebration of Gardening Week at the Westmont Public Library, enjoy this selection of picture books and more that share stories about nature, gardens, and community building.


Hello Honeybees by Hannah Rogge

This interactive board book will thrill readers, as they join a pair of busy honeybees  on a tour of a flower garden and their beehive.

Available Formats: Book


Mrs. Peanuckle’s Flower Alphabet by Mrs. Peanuckle

This beautiful board book is illustrated by Jessie Ford and is part of the series Mrs. Peanuckle’s Alphabet. Mrs. Peanuckle introduces readers to flowers from around the world, with names from A to Z. Learn what makes each flower a unique part of nature.

Available Formats: Book


Garden Day! by Candice Ransom

A brother and sister spend a spring day planting a garden. Readers will enjoy sharing this story in simple, short sentences, as the characters plant and water their garden.  Bright digital illustrations complement the story as brother and sister build their very own scarecrow to protect their growing garden.

Available Formats: Book, eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand)


The Garden that We Grew by Joan Holub

This early reader features watercolor illustrations that complement the story of children growing pumpkins in their garden.  They plant the pumpkin seeds, water and weed the garden patch, watch the pumpkins grow, pick them, and enjoy them in various ways.

Available Formats: Book


The Garden by Gwendolyn Hooks

When Lily invites her friends to volunteer at the community garden, they learn how to dig, plant seeds, and patiently wait for their plants to grow.  Part of the Confetti Kid early reader series, beginning readers enjoy simple sentences and vibrant digital illustrations.

Available Formats: Book


In the Garden by Emma Giuliani

This interactive nonfiction picture book looks at the life of a garden from season to season. Look under the lift-up flaps to discover information about the plants and animals that call a garden home year round. Bright, graphic illustrations, feature a simple, clean design that complements the information introduced to readers in this book. A beautiful and educational book to share together.

Available Formats: Book


Thank You, Garden by Liz Garton Scanlon

In this picture book, author Liz Garton Scanlon celebrates how a community garden can unite children and neighbors in friendship. Community relationships – along with fruits and vegetables – grow in this space, leaving everyone full of gratitude for the garden and each other. Simple, lyrical text is accompanied by beautiful digital illustrations.

Available Formats: Book


Grandma’s Gardens by Hillary and Chelsea Clinton

This intergenerational picture book celebrates family and the beauty of gardens. Grandma Dorothy shared her love of gardens with her daughter, Hillary, and her granddaughter, Chelsea. Gardens can be magical places where one can explore the plants and animals that call them home. This picture book is based on the lives of real people and is a heartwarming read about love, families, and the gardens we all grow.

Available Formats: Book


Secrets of the Vegetable Garden by Carron Brown

This picture book explores the animals and plants that grow in a vegetable garden. Hold a page up to the light to reveal what is hidden in and around the vegetable garden, and discover a small world of great surprises. This is part of the Shine-A-Light books series.

Available Formats: Book


The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver by Gene Barretta

When George Washington Carver was just a young child, he had a secret: a garden of his own. Here, he rolled dirt between his fingers to check if plants needed more rain or sun. He protected roots through harsh winters, so plants could be reborn in the spring. He trimmed flowers, spread soil, studied life cycles. It was in this very place that George’s love of nature sprouted into his career as an inventor and scientist. The illustrations highlight Carver’s determination and passion, which is also captured in the author’s account of his early life.

Available Formats: Book


The Curious Garden by Peter Brown

While out exploring one day, a little boy named Liam discovers a struggling garden and decides to take care of it. As time passes, the garden spreads throughout the dark, gray city, transforming it into a lush, green world. This heartwarming story features beautiful digital illustrations that complement the story as it progresses from the dark city to the vibrant garden.

Available Formats: Book


Peppa Pig and the Vegetable Garden by  Neville Astley

Peppa and George love helping Grandpa Pig in the garden. When it is time for lunch, Granny makes a salad, but George doesn’t like salad.  Peppa and Grandpa Pig  try to change George’s mind. Enjoy the bright digital illustrations in this picture book that is based on the characters from the Peppa Pig television show.

Available Formats: Book


The Gardener by Sarah Stewart

Lydia Grace Finch brings a suitcase full of seeds to the big gray city, where she goes to stay with her Uncle Jim, a cantankerous baker. There she initiates a gradual transformation, brightening the shop bit by bit, and bringing smiles to customers’ faces with the flowers she grows. But it is in a secret place that Lydia Grace works on her masterpiece, an ambitious rooftop garden, which she hopes will make even Uncle Jim smile. Set during the Great Depression in the United States, this picture is about kindness and determination.

Available Formats: Book


Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

The amazing biography looks at the contributions of former basketball player Will Allen on farm-to-table urban gardening.  His dream for an abandoned city lot in Milwaukee was to create a huge table, big enough to feed the whole world. Learn about food deserts and the impact urban gardening has on community building and access to fresh fruits and vegetables in this inspirational story.

Available Formats: eBook (Hoopla)


Growing Your Own Garden by Rebecca Hirsch

This informational book provides readers with an overview of gardening. The text explores planning a garden, plant and seed selection, soil preparation, composting, weeding and general garden care. The text is accompanied by realistic photos that add to the information provided.  A great introduction to this hobby.

Available Formats: Book


A Little Bit of Dirt: 55+ Science and Art Activities to Reconnect Children with Nature by Asia Citro

This informational text explains a variety of engaging activities that encourage the use of the senses and imagination and are accessible to children of all ages. Some of the activities include investigating the health of your local stream, making beautiful acrylic sun prints with leaves and flowers, running an experiment with your backyard birds, or concocting nature potions. All of the activities in this book seek to foster an important connection with nature.

Available Formats: Book, eBook (Hoopla)


The Book of Gardening Projects for Kids: 101 Ways to Get Kids Outside, Dirty, and Having Fun by Whitney Cohen

A great informational book that discusses how to incorporate gardening into your family’s everyday life. Explore simple, practical gardening advice, that discusses how to design a play-friendly garden, ideas for fun-filled theme gardens, and how to cook and preserve the garden’s bounty. A wonderful way to start a gardening discussion.

Available Formats: Book


Rocks, Dirt, Worms & Weeds: A fun, user-friendly illustrated guide to creating a vegetable or flower garden with your kids by Jess Hutton

This family guide to gardening is filled with photographs and illustrations that highlight how to start garden seeds indoors as well as how to prepare soil, plant seeds, and transplant seedlings. The author includes recipes and activities like instructions for making stepping stones, decorating egg carton planters, planting a sunflower maze, and much more.  Enjoy your family garden year round with this fun and informational book.

Available Formats: Book


Garbage Helps Our Garden Grow: A Compost Story by Linda Glaser

Explore the process of composting through photopgraphy in this infomational book. See the amazing things that happen inside a compost bin. In go banana peels, grass clippings, and even an old jack-o’-lantern, and out comes compost. Gardeners use compost in the garden to make the soil rich for new plants.

Available Formats: Book, eBook (Hoopla)


Let’s Get Gardening by Radhika Haswani

Enjoy a series of step-by-step garden projects. Each project includes a complete materials list, planting guide, and tips on harvesting your fruits and vegetables, providing plenty of support for kids from start to finish. Learn to grow garden staples like tomatoes, pumpkins, and zucchini and create creature friendly spaces in your garden. The activities are geared towards children ages five to eight, but can be adapted for older gardeners.

Available Formats: Book


 

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