Miguel's Community Garden

January 21, 2022

Gr 1-3-A charming, educational book about the plants that can grow in their gardens. Miguel needs to find sunflowers for his garden party. Readers learn what is unique about sunflowers and then follow Miguel around the community garden to find one. He goes through several plants that have similarities; in each case, he learns about a different one, and the quest continues. Many animal friends join him, and it happily leads to success, just in time for the garden party. Brown-Wood's words coupled with Hardy's illustrations create a colorful book for kids that centers on a Latinx child; not only is the book informative in the survey of a variety of plants children will find, but it offers further enticement in the form of a garden salad. VERDICT Perfect for introducing kids to nature and a taste of the garden-to-table experience. A great book for the green shelves.-David Roberts

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April 15, 2022
Miguel encounters a plethora of fruits and vegetables while searching for the sunflowers that will decorate his community garden's evening party. In this cheerful second entry in the Where in the Garden? series, Brown-Wood first describes a sunflower's attributes for her preschool audience: a tall, single, thick stem; yellow petals around a center with many seeds; large, pointy leaves that stick out. Readers join Miguel as he visits nine plant species, each of which shares a physical attribute with sunflowers. An apricot tree is tall but "much taller than a sunflower." Celery "is thick in places" but has multiple stalks rather than one stem. A brief rain shower doesn't daunt the yellow-slickered Miguel and his pet tortoise in their search. Hardy's exuberant illustrations depict Miguel and his family, all of whom are brown-skinned, who are joined at the party by a redheaded White child using a wheelchair, a girl with Asian features, and Amara, the Black girl with twin Afro puffs from the series' previous title. Illustrations done in Photoshop with layers of hand-painted ink and watercolor textures depict a cheery, thriving urban garden teeming with bees, ladybugs, birds, and earthworms for children to spot. Inviting, patterned endpapers dance with the fruits and veggies growing in the garden, and a recipe for sunflower seed salad rounds out the project. (This book was reviewed digitally.) This appealing title delivers plant facts in a vibrant, harmonious setting. (Informational picture book. 2-6)

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March 1, 2022
Preschool-Grade 1 Miguel is hosting a garden party and needs sunflowers to enhance his decor. He visits his community garden, determined to find them. Sunflowers stand on a single stem, grow tall, have smooth leaves, and have yellow petals with many clustered seeds at the center. Now that readers know what Miguel is looking for, they can help him find them. Along their hunt, they will learn that the properties applicable to sunflowers also apply to other fruits and vegetables such as apricots, artichokes, cherries, mulberries, spinach, mushrooms, celery, and bell peppers. Yes, these plants have lot of similarities--thick stems, round centers, clustered seeds, and so on--but only one is an actual sunflower. Hardy's colorful double-page spreads feature lots of garden detail and thoughtfully depict each plant feature Miguel examines. Along with the lesson on some basic plant biology, this book offers a breezy introduction to gardening. A recipe for a salad (to be made with the help of an adult) composed of some of the plants featured in the book concludes.

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