Miguel's Community Garden (Where in the Garden? #2)

by Janay Brown-Wood (Author) Samara Hardy (Illustrator)

Reading Level: K − 1st Grade

Miguel searches for sunflowers in his community garden in this vibrant exploration of growing food and healthy eating, from the Where in the Garden? series.

Miguel is throwing a party at his community garden for all of his friends, and he needs help searching for sunflowers to complete the celebration. What do we know about sunflowers? They're tall with petals and leaves--and, hold on, is that a sunflower? No, that's an artichoke. Where, oh, where could those sunflowers be? Can you help Miguel find them in time for his party?

The second title in the Where in the Garden? picture book series stars a young Latino boy who visits his community garden with his two dads to explore the fruits and vegetables growing there.

Playful text guides young readers to hunt for visual clues and compare and contrast the unique characteristics of sunflowers against apricots, spinach, mushrooms, and other produce that grows in Miguel's community garden.

Artist Samara Hardy brings this multi-layered story to life with vivid, cheerful illustrations created from layers of hand painted ink and watercolor texture. Back matter includes a refreshing sunflower seed salad recipe for little chefs and their adult helpers to try together.

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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.

Kirkus Reviews

[A] cheerful second entry in the Where in the Garden? series. . . . 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. . . . This appealing title delivers plant facts in a vibrant, harmonious setting.

School Library Journal

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

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes



Janay Brown-Wood
JaNay Brown-Wood grew up with a passion for writing and drafted her first series of unpublished picture books in the second grade. After earning a BA in Psychology from UCLA, an MA in Child Development from CSU, and a PhD in Education from UC Davis, JaNay still loves storytelling! Her first book, Imani's Moon, was a NAESP Children's Book of the Year and a Reading Is Fundamental Multicultural Book Pick. She lives with her family in California.

Samara Hardy has always loved to draw. Unfortunately for her parents, this was often on their walls and furniture...with her mother's lipstick. Realizing she might make a career out of this, she graduated with a degree in Illustration from Falmouth University and has since illustrated all kinds of wonderful things from picture books to reusable bags. She spends her days scribbling away and drawing by the sea in England.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781682631669
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Peachtree Publishers
Publication date
March 20, 2022
Series
Where in the Garden?
BISAC categories
JUV009100 - Juvenile Fiction | Concepts | Seasons
JUV050000 - Juvenile Fiction | Cooking & Food
JUV060000 - Juvenile Fiction | LGBT
JUV074000 - Juvenile Fiction | Diversity & Multicultural
JUV029040 - Juvenile Fiction | Science & Nature | Flowers & Plants
Library of Congress categories
Picture books
City and town life
Gardens
Community gardens
Sunflowers

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