How does my garden grow? by Gerda Muller

I personally love many of Floris' books; they often publish older European titles with lovely illustrations, but they're usually just not a good fit for my library. Too text-heavy, unfamiliar words and settings, etc. But this one, oh I loved this one and I really hope it will be popular in the library!

The white endpages are covered with delicate drawings of the "eight vegetable families" - fruits, bulbs, tubers, flowering vegetables, stem vegetables, pulses (those are peas and corn in case you were wondering, like me), leafy vegetables, and root vegetables.

Sophie, a small girl with dark hair, who might be Asian, has gone to live with her grandparents in the countryside. Together they plant, weed, water, and harvest, all carefully illustrated with delicate drawings of plants and vegetables, pictures of Sophie and her grandparents and neighbors working in the garden, illustrations of how plants grow and are pollinated, and periodic full-page spreads of the garden at different times of day and the vegetables being harvested. The story ends in winter, with Sophie returning to help put the garden to rest, and a look forward to spring.

The story is admittedly too long to read in storytime, or probably at a sitting. It's handily divided into chapters of a few pages each and filled with gardening knowledge and suggestions. It's a great choice to check out again and again from the library, reading a little bit each night or before gardening, or to purchase for your family's bookshelf to accompany work in the garden.

Verdict: This isn't a necessary purchase for every library, but if you have an emphasis on gardening and an audience for longer picture books, you are sure to find some readers who appreciate this simple story of garden appreciation and growth.

ISBN: 9781782500377; Published 2014 by Floris books; Borrowed from another library in my consortium