Best Children's Gardening Books

It is only through a series of mysterious encounters -- with a ghostly white dog and a mute boy -- that Green relearns the lessons of love and begins to heal as she tells her own story. The contrast between her original faith in the promise of the future and her later acknowledgment of the tentative nature of reality is vividly and eloquently portrayed. Renee Steinberg, Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. Gr. Hoffman's latest fable for teens begins with an apocalyptic scene that mirrors the events of 9/11: a girl watches as her city across the river explodes into smoke and fire, and people leap from buildings. Faced with grief and an anarchic world, Green finds solace in the brittle numbness of daily tasks and in the pain of the tattoos that she begins to draw on herself.

Unearth the true story of green-thumbed pioneer and activist Kate Sessions, who helped San Diego grow from a dry desert town into a lush, leafy city known for its gorgeous parks and gardens. K-Gr 2-Katherine Olivia Sessions was a real go-getter, becoming the first woman to graduate from the University of California with a science degree (1881) and transforming San Diego's City Park from a dry, ugly hillside into a lush garden flourishing beneath a beautiful canopy of trees. Motivated by the love she'd felt for trees since her childhood, Sessions researched species that would grow in arid weather and hilly terrain, and she asked gardeners around the world to send her seeds. The park would be the site of the Panama-California Exposition in 1909, and Sessions wanted thousands of additional trees in place to make it even more spectacular. Hopkins writes in a light narrative style that makes this picture-book biography a great selection for a storytime with a nature-based theme, but it also contains good information for early report writers. Well, turns out Katherine Olivia Sessions, who grew up in Northern California in the 1860s, always loved trees—she used to weave their leaves into necklaces and bracelets. She wrote to gardeners far and wide, seeking out seeds that would thrive in a harsh desert climate, and by the turn of the century, oaks, eucalypti, and palms sprung up throughout the city.

While teaching upper- and lowercase letters to preschoolers, Ehlert introduces fruits and vegetables from around the world. This appetizing alphabet book shows fruits and vegetables so juicy and alive, you'll wish they could jump off the page and into your mouth. At the end of the book, Ehlert provides a detailed glossary that includes pronunciation, botanical information, the origin and history of the particular plant and occasional mythological references, with a small watercolor picture to remind the reader of what the plant looks like. Ehlert's glorious watercolor collages are lively and enticing; as in her Growing Vegetable Soup , she presents the plant world in an appealing and easily accessible manner.

National Geographic Kids First Big Book of the Ocean is an adorable animal reference that includes the sea's high-interest animals, such as dolphins, sharks, sea otters, and penguins, and introduces kids to some of its lesser-known creatures. “Equally suitable for quick dips or lengthy dives, this gallery of ocean dwellers will attract schools of newly fledged readers.” -- Kirkus Reviews , starred review. “A delightful, age-appropriate introduction to ocean creatures big and small.” – Children’s Book Council.

Universal in its appeal, the story has become a favorite of millions, as it reveals a child's wonder at a new world, and the hope of capturing and keeping that wonder forever. "Ezra Jack Keats's classic The Snowy Day , winner of the 1963 Caldecott Medal, pays homage to the wonder and pure pleasure a child experiences when the world is blanketed in snow. The Snowy Day , a 1963 Caldecott Medal winner, is the simple tale of a boy waking up to discover that snow has fallen during the night. Now in a sturdy board-book format just right for youngest readers, Ezra Jack Keats's classic The Snowy Day, winner of the 1963 Caldecott Medal, pays homage to the wonder and pure pleasure a child experiences when the world is blanketed in snow.

From dazzling gemstones to sparkling crystals to molten lava, this brilliantly illustrated book introduces children to the exciting world of rocks and minerals, including both the building blocks and the bling. This high-interest, educationally vetted series of beginning readers features the magnificent images of National Geographic, accompanied by texts written by experienced, skilled children's book authors. Since then she has written over 60 natural science and history books for young readers, and been awarded honors by the NSTA/CBC, the NCSS/CBC, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Library Association, the IRA/CBC Children’s Choice.

This Newbery Honor-winning, hilarious Floridian adventure involves new kids, bullies, alligators, eco-warriors, pancakes, pint-sized owls, and more. Characteristically quirky characters and comic twists will surely gain the author new fans, though their attention may wander during his narrative's intermittently protracted focus on several adults, among them a policeman and the manager of a construction site for a new franchise of a pancake restaurant chain. Both men are on a quest to discover who is sabotaging the site at night, including such pranks as uprooting survey stakes, spray-painting the police cruiser's windows while the officer sleeps within and filling the portable potties with alligators. The story's most intriguing character is the boy behind the mischief, a runaway on a mission to protect the miniature owls that live in burrows underneath the site. Roy, who has recently moved to Florida from Montana, befriends the homeless boy (nicknamed Mullet Fingers) and takes up his cause, as does the runaway's stepsister.

But years later when she returns home, she is shocked to see whole forests being cut down, and she knows that soon all the trees will be destroyed. This true story of Wangari Maathai, environmentalist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, is a shining example of how one woman’s passion, vision, and determination inspired great change. Like Claire A. Nivola’s Planting the Trees of Kenya (2008), this powerful picture-book biography introduces Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. As in Nivola’s title, Winter follows her charismatic subject from her rural Kenyan childhood to her adult life as the founder of the Green Belt Movement, which has profoundly improved her country’s health and economy. As in her other similarly formatted picture books, such as The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq (2005), Winter’s acrylic paintings employ rich, opaque hues and elemental shapes that illustrate specific details while conveying a broader sense of her subject’s remarkable influence.

After Billy Bee falls asleep on leaf, he drifts far away downstream and wakes up to a place he has never been before. At first he is surrounded by dark trees, creepy sounds, and snapping twigs, but then he meets a whimsical character named Jolly Jillie that leads him to safety. In this first book of “The Adventures of Billy Bee” series, children read about the true power of love, friendship, and self-belief. There are several hidden pictures in the book: Two chickens, two rabbits, three dogs, a spider, a fish, and two cats. Peter's belief in his message coupled with a genuine desire to make a difference in children's lives is easily visible in his stories. Principal / Fred C. Underhill School / NH. As a teacher and a first time mom- to- be, it is important for me to select literature, which will teach my students to be better people. She asks me to read it to her several times a day , and she also loves Callie's Wish (coming soon). She is only two now, so I'm not sure if she understands the valuable message in this book yet, but I know we will be reading this series for years to come, and soon my infant son Tristan will also love it. This story is one in five in the Adventures of Billy Bee ® children's book series and the first one to be released digitally with Kindle. It has always been a special one for me because I wrote this one for my wife Gilda, or as we all call her Gillie, (sounds like Jillie, hence "Jolly Jillie"). The story evolved into more than I ever could have imagined that day in traffic.

From dazzling gemstones to sparkling crystals to molten lava, this brilliantly illustrated book introduces children to the exciting world of rocks and minerals, including both the building blocks and the bling. This high-interest, educationally vetted series of beginning readers features the magnificent images of National Geographic, accompanied by texts written by experienced, skilled children's book authors. Since then she has written over 60 natural science and history books for young readers, and been awarded honors by the NSTA/CBC, the NCSS/CBC, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Library Association, the IRA/CBC Children’s Choice.

Hot melted rock from the middle of our planet forces its way up through cracks in the Earth’s crusts, exploding violently and sometimes unexpectedly in volcanic fury that can terrorize populations for months, even years. ANNE SCHREIBER is a graduate in Science Education from Cornell University and began her career as an elementary school teacher.