Cooney, Barbara. Miss Rumphius. New York: The Viking Press, 1982.

Source: Booklist, July 1999.

Gr. 1-4. ISBN 0670479586.

Alice Rumphius takes advice from her grandfather. He tells her, via his stories, to go to faraway places, live by the sea when she is older and one more she must do and that is to make the world more beautiful. Alice does this and makes the world beautiful be planting lupine seeds. She doesn’t realize it until she sees the flowers in the spring.

2) Greenstein, Elaine. Mrs. Rose’s Garden. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.

Source: Booklist, 1996. SLJ June, 1996. Publisher’s Weekly, May 27, 1996.

Ages 4-8. ISBN 0689802153.

Mrs. Rose grows the best plant in the county because of the special mix of fertilizer she uses and realizes that she will win the blue ribbon for all categories. She doesn’t feel comfortable about this and wonders what to do. She is inspired and she and her husband wake up early one morning and plant a different plant in a neighbor’s garden. There are five plants and five neighbors get one each. At harvest time the neighbor thinks theirs is the best plant and enters it into the county fair. All win a blue ribbon in their category. It is based on a true incident in Greenstein’s life..

3) Harris, Susan Yard. Daisy’s Garden. Illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 1995.

Source: Booklist July, 1995, SLJ April, 1995.

Ages 4-8. ISBN 0786820802.

Susan Yard Harris is from Northampton. This local author has Daisy go from April to October from planting to harvesting the garden. In Daisy’s garden there is room for everyone even the pests. The illustrations are interesting. Every double page spread has the same view of Daisy’s garden. The only difference is the activity that is going on in the garden in that particular time of the growing season. It is written in rhyme.

4) Hines, Anna Grossnickle. Remember the Butterflies. New York: Dutton Children’s Books, 1991.

Source: SLJ May, 1991.

Ages 4-8. ISBN 052544679.

Glen and Holly play in their grandfather’s garden and find a butterfly by the forget-me-nots. It turns out to be a blue azure butterfly that had died. The grandfather takes the children out to the garden to find the butterfly eggs in the spring but they can’t see them. He shows them the wonders of the caterpillar in the summer and the chrysalis in the fall. Later the grandfather dies but like the plants and butterflies the grandfather’s life goes on via his daughter and his grandchildren.

5) Udry, Janice May. A Tree is Nice. Illustrated by Marc Simont. New York: Harper and Row, 1956.

Source: School Library Journal, August 1995.

Ages 5-8. Udry shows the benefits of trees for humans and other creatures on earth. The child is so impressed he goes home and plants his own tree and is telling everyone he grew that tree which makes another child go home and plant herself a tree. The Illustrations make the trees come alive.

6) Wiesner, David. June 29, 1999. Illustrated by Garth Williams. New York: Clarion Books, 1992.

Gr. 1-4. ISBN 0395597625.

Third grader, Holly Evans, launches a science experiment that surprises everyone even herself. She sends seedlings into outer space to see the effects of extraterrestrial conditions on them. When the vegetables come back to earth they are huge and land in people’s backyards.

1) Fleischman, Paul. Joyful Noise. Illustrated by Eric Beddows. New York: Harper and Row, 1988.

Source: Publisher’s Weekly, June 8, 2001. Newbery Award Winner 1989.

Ages 6-12 and all ages. ISBN 0060218525.

Two voice poems meant to be read aloud by two people. 14 insect poems and my favorite is "Book Lice". The March 26, 1989 New York Times Book review rated this book as a C. I have liked this book forever.

1) Azarian, Mary. A Gardener's Alphabet.. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2000.

Source: American Scientist, November 200 and School Libary Journal June 2000.

Ages 4-8. ISBN 0618033807.

Lovely woodcut about garden scenes that are water colored. A for Arbor, B for Bulbs, C for Compost. The picture are details and clear. You can see the watermelon rind and banana peals in the square compost frame. There is plenty to look at and talk about from the illustrations.

1) Brennan, Georgeanne and Ethel. The Children’s Kitchen Garden. Illustrated by Ann Arnold. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press, 1997.

Source: Booklist, March 15, 1997. Library Journal, Dec 2001.

Age 10-adult. ISBN 0898158737.

Well done book. It is nicely organized and the illustrations are sparse but functional. The chapter titles are: The French-Amerian Approach,In the Children's Garden, Digging In, Herbs: A Feasst for the Senses, Seasonal Gardens with Recipes and Kitchen Notes and More Recipes.

2) Creasy, Rosalind. Blue Potatoes, Orange Tomatoes. Illustrated by Ruth Heller. Sieera Club Books for Children, 1994.