Children's books and book reviews - reading resource for kids, teachers, librarians, parents





*Secrets of the Garden: Food Chains and the Food Web in Our Backyard* by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld, illustrated by Priscilla Lamont
Secrets of the Garden: Food Chains and the Food Web in Our Backyard
by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld, illustrated by Priscilla Lamont
Ages 5+ 40 pages Knopf February 2012 Hardcover    

Alice is a lucky girl. Every spring, her family plants a garden and she gets to help. Not only is Alice an observant girl, she’s also imaginative. When the seeds go into the ground, she wonders what’s going on under the soil, and wisely so. Alice knows that soil is important—vegetables won’t grow without it.

She also knows that plants need sunshine, fresh air, and water. She knows that humans aren’t the only creatures that eat what grows in the garden, and she understands that everything that happens to the soil affects the plants, the animals, and the people on her farm and everywhere else.

Through Alice’s eyes and through the colorful illustrations, we readers get to experience the magic of life and the responsibility of being part of the web that keeps everything on earth alive. While Alice tells us just what she sees and thinks, a couple of very smart chickens fill in the scientific details about herbivores and carnivores, raising plants, and how the food chain works.

Secrets of the Garden is one of those picture books for children that will never grow old. From spring planting to autumn harvest, there’s always something in the book that carries over into real life and encourages kids to pay close attention to what’s happening around them.

This is absolutely the best book you could give to a child who loves the outdoors or whose parents hope to raise an environmentally conscious citizen. Outstanding in every way!
 


click here to browse children's board book reviews
click here to browse children's picture book reviews
click here to browse young readers book reviews
click here to browse young readers book reviews
click here to browse young adult book reviews
click here to browse parenting book reviews
 
web reviews
  Deborah Adams/2012 for curled up with a good kid's book  






For grown-up fiction, nonfiction and speculative fiction book reviews,
visit our sister site Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)