Review by Booklist Review
Gr. K-2. This rhyming story in the Viking Easy to Read series has clear, colorful illustrations that show children growing a garden, starting with seeds that they push way down into the warm, brown dirt. They water and weed, watch the plants flower and the pumpkins grow, and finally harvest the crop, bake cookies and pies, make Halloween masks, and save the seeds to grow next year. Holub's words are nearly all one syllable, and beginning readers will be drawn by the hands-on excitement as children make important things happen. There's also a lot to talk about with adults about how plants grow through the seasons. --Hazel Rochman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-In this appealing addition to the series, children are making a garden. The whole process, from preparing the soil to creating things from their harvested pumpkins, is cheerfully and simply reported in verse, two or four lines on each double-page spread. The illustrations of the smiling, busy youngsters show that they're into the project with both their spirits and their bodies: into the dirt "all warm and brown," the water, the weeds, and finally the pumpkins-"Inside the pumpkins/is wet, orange goop./This is the way/we scoop, scoop, scoop, scoop!" with both spoons and hands. Beginning readers should enjoy the short, simple text, the enthusiasm of the children, and the fun they're having.-Carolyn Jenks, First Parish Unitarian Church, Portland, ME (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Preschool, Primary) Here's a book that shares the necessary qualities of a beginning reader+simplicity, repetition, predictability, and pictorial cues+with those of a successful picture book. The catchy rhyming verse narrates a cycle of planting and harvest, carried out entirely by happy, industrious children in the softly colored pictures. ""This is the garden that we will grow. / This is the patch we will plant row by row. / This is the dirt, all warm and brown. / These are the seeds we push way down."" Two denim-clad kids begin working the indeed warm-looking brown dirt that covers most of the larger pictures; behind their patch stands a butter-yellow house and white picket fence, where, one at a time, children stand looking on before venturing to join in. The pictures on the seed packets clue the reader in to the nature of the crop; by late summer, pumpkins grow under warm sunshine and buzzing bees.The children (five in all) return in sweaters for the harvest, and one adult now appears to help with the literal fruits of their labors, turning the pumpkins into pies, cookies, and jack-o'-lanterns. The text blossoms with the ample warmth, light, and gentle sense of humor in the pictures+children grinning to match their jack-o'-lanterns; the small dog who helps with digging, planting, and, later, chasing rabbits. The depiction of the confident, autonomous growers gives due respect to the burgeoning independence of young gardeners and readers alike. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Holub (Scat, Cats!, above, etc.) uses a rhyming, patterned text to follow a group of five young children experiencing the growth cycle with pumpkins, from planting seeds all the way through to jack-o'-lanterns, pumpkin bread, and seeds saved for next year's garden. The simple text at the 2.4 level uses a "this is the -" pattern throughout, with rhyming couplets that encourage prediction of closing words. The sequential storyline covers both the necessary elements of nature (tilled soil, water, sun, worms, and bees) and the work by gardeners required for growing healthy plants. Nakata's (Lucky Pennies and Hot Chocolate, 2000) cheerful watercolors of round-headed children are charming and generally complement the text, but the color palate is not as bright as it should be to reflect the vibrant, bouncy rhymes, especially for a title that will be used for reading to a group, as well as by individual readers. Nonetheless, easy nonfiction titles about seed cycles are always in demand for first- and second-grade science lessons, and Holub's story will also be used for preschool or kindergarten story hours in October, when pumpkin stories are as popular as full-sized candy bars on Halloween night. (Easy reader/nonfiction. 5-8)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
