Blog article by Lanie Keystone
Yes--Yes…I know—
I hear you thinking, “It’s October and Halloween and Thanksgiving haven’t even come and gone! And, we’re already thinking about holiday gift-giving? Talk about rushing time!” That’s all true, but you’ll be thankful beyond Thanksgiving when you’re taking out the holiday decorations and realize you need a meaningful gift for those special kids in your life. So, in taking a helpful leap for us all, here are two engaging, sure-to-be-loved gardening books for holiday gift giving.
GARDENING WITH EMMA: Grow and Have Fun—A Kid to Kid Guide By Emma Biggs
Reading Age: 8-12 Years
What a brilliant idea! A 13-year-old passionate gardener, sharing her passion and expertise with other kids. This young author has figured out how to engage kids as they start their lifelong journey with gardening. The young author draws her readers into growing healthy food and raising great plants while having a lot of fun. She hooks her young gardeners with things such as growing veggies of radically different sizes, both tiny to enormous, or creating a rainbow-colored flower stand—all while offering a range of original, practical, and entertaining advice.
In addition, Biggs offers lots of practical knowledge about soil, seed sowing and caring for a garden throughout the four seasons. One of the most delightful sections is sharing her secret of how to make play spaces among the plants! Vivid photography and a keen sense of writing capture the honest creativity of a kid who loves to be outdoors, just digging in the dirt.
And that’s what makes this book a real winner.
IN A GARDEN By Tim McCanna
Reading Age: 4-8
At the other end of the age spectrum is IN A GARDEN, by the acclaimed author Tim McCanna, who, at every turn, creates a celebration of gardens, nature, and lots of critters, too. This wonderful read-aloud picture book answers the questions every young child wants to know about how a garden really grows.
Joining in the exploration of how a garden grows, the child and grown-up reader alike, follow along the seed as it’s planted, sprouts, and magically buds into a flower--joining together with other flowers to create a whole garden of blooms. Best of all, we watch as some of a child’s favorite creatures enter the scene—worms, ladybugs, millipedes, and more-- all in the service of helping a garden grow from season to season.
With warm, engaging illustrations by Aimee Sicuro enhancing McCanna’s beguiling language, this charming book draws in readers of all ages and will have them chanting together such lyrical passages as this one:
in the earth
a single seed
sits beside a milliped
worms and termites
dig and toil
moving through the garden soil
Happy gifting!
More ideas to come from the Book Corner in November.