What Grew in Larry's Garden

Young Grace, the titular Larry’s neighbor, learns that a garden is more than the sum of its produce.

Larry, white-haired, bearded, and bespectacled, grows rainbow chard, zebra-striped tomatoes, and purple potatoes in his garden, where Grace helps plant, prune, hoe, and harvest. When problems arise—bugs in the carrots, for instance—Larry’s philosophy is summed up in what he says first: “We can figure this out.” He and Grace (both appear white) plant marigolds to discourage bugs and build wire cages to protect tomatoes from squirrels. Alary’s unfussy narrative and Reich’s cheery, bright art create a welcoming and friendly feel for the neighborhood and the garden. “We’re not just growing vegetables,” Larry tells Grace. The tomato seedlings that he and Grace start over the winter have sprouted from seeds they gathered. Larry, a teacher, takes the tomato seedlings to school, where each is nurtured by a student, then given with a note of explanation to a neighbor the student selects. An author’s note explains that the story was inspired by a real-life teacher who created this project as a way to build community. In the story, when Grace and Larry encounter a problem caused by a neighbor’s fence, it is Grace who takes what she has learned from gardening with Larry and helps to create a positive solution.

In this gentle narrative celebrating diligence, problem solving, and community, a girl helps nurture her neighbor's backyard vegetables. Together, Grace and Larry "watered and weeded," researching and instituting methods to deter insects, gastropods, and squirrels. But the duo faces a different challenge when Larry's neighbor adds a high fence panel that "makes him feel safe," enveloping the garden in darkness. Alary's diction is evocative ("buttery yellow carrots and purple potatoes. Rainbow chard and scarlet runner beans. Rosy tomatoes the color of ripe peaches"), and Reich's artwork, done in gouache and colored pencils with digital touches, has an expressive richness. Though contemporary context may cast the recurring motif of fences in a specific light, an author's note drives home the theme of sowing compassion, revealing the real-life inspiration: teacher Larry Zacharko and his tomato project, which helped students "who had troubles both at home and at school" to see the possibility of cultivating personal and communal growth. Ages 4-7. (Apr.)