Planting the Wild Garden

by Kathryn O. Galbraith, Wendy Anderson Halperni (Illustrator)

Overview

A farmer and her son carefully plant seeds in their garden. In the wild garden, many seeds are planted too, but not by farmers' hands. Different kinds of animals transport all sorts of seeds, often without knowing it. Sometimes rain washes seeds away to a new and unexpected location. And sometimes something extraordinary occurs, as when the pods of Scotch broom burst open explosively in the summer heat, scattering seeds everywhere like popcorn. Kathryn Galbraith's lyrical prose seamlessly combines with Wendy Halperin's elegant, crisp illustrations to show that many elements-some unexpected-work together through the seasons to create and sustain the wild meadow garden.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781561457915
Publisher:	Peachtree Publishers, Ltd.
Publication date:	03/28/2015
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	111,324
Product dimensions:	9.88(w) x 10.84(h) x 0.13(d)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

Editorial Reviews

In a traditional garden, people methodically plant seeds to determine where the vegetation will grow, but this process is far less structured in nature. This book provides information about nature’s seed dispersal in an accurate and engaging way. Forces such as wind and rain help scatter seeds, but that is only one part of the story. Seeds are also helped along by animals, from birds to fish to land-bound creatures. There is a lot to look at on each page, with smaller boxes depicting the motion of seeds being carried away from plants to their new life in the ground. The seeds and plants are drawn realistically enough that students could potentially identify them. Names of various plants are also given throughout. The text on each page often moves around playfully in waves, and different sound or motion words are highlighted as well. The writing is overall entertaining and instructive. The book concludes with a reminder that humans are also part of the natural world, as we too play a role in the spreading of seeds in the wild. Reviewer: Lisa Czirr; Ages 5 to 8.

Children's Literature - Lisa Czirr

Most children know that domestic seeds are sown and cultivated by farmers, but how do wild plants grow and spread? In lighthearted prose punctuated with sound effects ("Per-chik-o-ree! Per-chik-o-ree!" cries a goldfinch) and enlivened with typographic curves and swoops, Galbraith (Arbor Day Square) explains that seeds from wild plants float in the wind, snap off plants, fall in the rain, and get carried—intentionally or unintentionally—by animals to new places where they sprout and thrive. "A family of raccoons feasts on blackberries.... When they amble home again, bits of berries and seeds go with them. Next spring, new prickly canes will pop up everywhere." Halperin's (My Father Is Taller Than a Tree) spreads are divided into contiguous panels tinted in the lightest of watercolors, with delicate pencil shading that conveys the force of wind and rain alike. Small natural dramas are writ large as she shows plants and seeds in tender closeups, the small panels complementing sweeping landscapes watered with rain, sparkling with stars, or glowing in the sunset—sometimes all at once. It's a thoroughly handsome book, suffused with calm. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly