Secrets of the Garden

January 9, 2012
As Alice’s family’s vegetable garden grows, Alice learns about seeding, sowing, and the web of life. “Early in spring, Mom planted tomato and green pepper seeds in small pots. She kept them warm indoors by a sunny window. Now her seedlings are ready to go in the garden,” she explains. She converses with her family members via dialogue balloons (“Look at this shiny bug!”), while two highly knowledgeable chickens, Maisy and Daisy, explain concepts like photosynthesis, composting, and food chains. Lamont’s pen-and-watercolor art is filled with humorous, cozy, and informative details. This intimate portrait of a single garden points to how all ecosystems are connected. Ages 5–up.

Starred review from February 1, 2012

Gr 1-4-Alice explains how she and her family plant, tend, and harvest vegetables in their large backyard garden. She and her brother wait impatiently for the first sprouts to appear and watch the seedlings mature. Soon Alice realizes that humans aren't the only ones ready to enjoy the crops. Rabbits, mice, and insects also eat plants, but sometimes they end up as food for other animals. Maisy and Daisy, the family's chickens, use visual aids to identify various food chains in the garden and show how they contribute to a backyard food web. Zoehfeld stresses the role of plants as the first link in food chains and explains the special role worms play in the continuing cycle. Her clear, conversational style conveys valuable information without overwhelming readers. Lamont's cheerful watercolor illustrations provide additional details on topics such as seedling identification and edible parts of plants. The depictions of the growing crops and the interactions of family members with one another and their garden exude positive energy. The conversations of all of the characters, including the chickens, are encapsulated in speech balloons. The book will raise readers' awareness of backyard food chains and encourage some students to try gardening themselves.-Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 15, 2011
Zoehfeld's latest is a wonderfully informative and enjoyable journey through one family's backyard garden, from spring planting to fall harvest. Covering a dazzling array of topics, the author still manages to hold onto a story line that will draw readers in and allow them to experience both the good and the bad right along with narrator Alice. They will wait for the seeds to sprout and worry along with Alice about the nibbles that are missing from a few plants. Taking some time to be quiet in the garden, Alice discovers that it is home to many different animals, some beneficial and some not, and that the garden plants are the beginnings of many food chains, all interconnected in a web. Autumn sees the family putting up their vegetables so that they can enjoy the harvest throughout the winter, while they dream and plan their next garden. The text comes alive through Lamont's pen-and-watercolor illustrations, which reinforce the learning while entertaining at the same time--the humans are not the only ones doing the educating. A funny pair of chickens appears throughout, providing more in-depth information about lots of topics, including photosynthesis, composting, common garden insects, food chains and the parts of the plants that people eat. Sure to become a standard go-to for elementary teachers and gardeners alike, this is bound to spark some backyard explorations. (Informational picture book. 4-9)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 15, 2012
Grades K-2 In the spring, Alice's family plants their backyard garden and waits for signs of life. Over the months that follow, they watch each stage of the plants' growth and the animals that arrive. From potato bugs and grasshoppers to rabbits and mice to robins and eagles, many critters comes to the garden looking for something to eat, and together with the family, their cat, and their chickens, they form a food web. Written from Alice's point of view, the main text is conversational and informative. From time to time, the rooster and chicken chime in with information and explanations, delivered in cartoon-style text balloons and on illustrated signs and posters. Equally effective with the book's factual elements and its more fanciful ones, Lamont's beguiling pen-and-watercolor illustrations capture the amiable tone of the narrative as well as the burgeoning growth of the garden. A natural for young gardeners, this picture book is also an appealing addition to classroom units on food chains.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)