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If you are looking for the perfect board book to give to the youngest person on your gift list this summer, look no further! Jan Gerardi’s The Little Gardener is a beautifully illustrated and sturdy board book with lots of moving parts that little fingers can easily manipulate.
The cover of the board book shows a “little gardener” surrounded by flowers, butterflies and bees. Readers immediately discover the tools of gardening and then find out how to plant “tiny seeds in a row” while adding compost and water. Soon the rain comes, and the seeds start sprouting into beautiful buds of daisies and roses.
As the little gardener weeds the garden, she gets rid of bugs using an organic mixture of salt water. The harvest, presented in a flip-page format, consists of carrots, squash, and peas. Then the process begins all over again as the seeds are saved “to plant next year!”
The illustrations are straightforward yet colorful images of the garden. Girardi’s color scheme is primarily green, but the little gardener stands out in a bright outfit of blue and purple. The flowers and vegetables are bright, vibrant and virtually jump off the page.
Jan Girardi has illustrated many books for young children, including several new editions of Dr. Seuss titles including Horton Hears a Who! Can You?, Happy Birthday Baby and Oh, Baby! Go, Baby! The Teenie Greenies are the first books she has both written and illustrated. The first two books in the series, published in 2011, are The Little Composter and Eco People on the Go! The next book in the series, The Little Recycler, will be published in 2013.
The Little Gardener will become a favorite spring read-aloud for parents and grandparents. The gently rhyming text and flip-page format allow for lots of conversation and interaction between the text, the reader and the listener. The text of the board book encourages lots of gardening activities: planting, watering, weeding, and collecting seeds for next year. Go out and plant a garden with your own “little gardener!”
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The Little Gardener (Teenie Greenies)