Garden Books for Children ...

... of all ages!

As with anything we do in our home school, books are always a favorite resource for inspiration, information and just plain good reading! I like to set up theme baskets according to the current season and ongoing projects. Here are a few of our favorite garden-themed picture books:

How Groundhog's Garden Grew follows a chubby little woodchuck and all his woodland friends as they plant, tend and harvest a vegetable garden for their very own. Our favorite page is the last, when all the animals gather together for a harvest meal of celebration. Lynne Cherry is a favorite author/illustrator of ours and here she includes practical information along with her fanciful story ...

My Backyard Garden ~ I have a weakness for books about the unfolding seasons. This beautiful hardcover (which I found in a discount pile years ago) explains to children how to create a garden of their very own, taking them through the gardening year from March's preparation through October's clean up. There are soft gorgeous illustrations and plenty of solid advice throughout ...

 

Around the Year was first published in Sweden in 1927. The illustrations are so sweet and old-fashioned! The poems portray the merry adventures of three rosy-cheeked little children. They romp through the seasons together, meeting up with all kinds of interesting characters ~ the New and Old Year, an elderly March and a young jaunty April, the Parade of Fruits in August, the apple and nut trees of fall ...

Little Farm by the Sea is written and illustrated by one of my favorite children's authors, Kay Chorao. The softly shaded pages show life on a picturesque farm as it changes through the seasons. There's so much to see on every page, and so much to learn about farming life and the cycle of nature ...

Mother Earth's Children is another oldie but goodie; I bought it used several years ago. It's amazing (and fortuitous) how one reader's trash is another one's treasue! It was written in 1914 by Ms. Elizabeth Gordon, and here's what she says to her young readers at the start of this lovely little book:

" A seed, little friends, is really a plant or a tree all wrapped up in a little brown bundle. If you plant it in the ground it will grow, and when it is old enough it will bear fruit, because God has made it so."

What I love about this book are the charming illustrations of the less glamorous, yet more practical, members of the family garden ~ the vegetables and fruits! Each page shows one funny little character (the Caraway, Mrs. Peach, the Pumpkin children, and Sir English Walnut to name a few) along with his or her own funny poem.

Comments

[Amy]

These sound like great books! Thanks for sharing - I know very little about this subject area! :)

[Alice R]

I always visit your blog. It is so inspiring and sweet! Thanks for sharing your nice work!

[Dawn]

Thank you, Amy and Alice! I'm having a lot of fun with this blog. :)

[Jenn Miller]

Great list, thank you so much. I need some books to talk about gardening with young son. He's got some of the basic concepts, but when we're out there, it's just dirt up in the air and everywhere. Good dirty fun.