All That Grows

Wearing a serious expression, the narrator of this story about cultivation and categorization learns about plants from their older sister, who seems to retain all manner of related knowledge: "How does my sister know?" Told that magnolias smell like lemon cake, and quince trees only produce sweet fruit in warmer climes, the narrator helps their sister weed the plot in which she's growing vegetables ("It's hard work not to mistake one for the other"). Warm, dappled pastel art by Wong (When You Can Swim) captures sunlight playing over the East Asian-cued siblings as they tend the seedlings. Wondering why "only some plants are called vegetables," the narrator keeps watering a thickly weeded patch that their sister has given up on; notes the value of wild-propagated daffodils, dandelions, and maples; and enjoys cooked fiddlehead ferns, which will "make you sick for days if you have them raw." One day, white flowers that the sister has never before seen appear in the weedy patch, an occasion that vindicates the idea that the narrator, too, is a gardener. Played out through quiet internality, the narrator's questioning curiosity, and the discovery they make while trusting their own intuition, provides quiet satisfaction. Ages 3-6. Agent: Wendi Gu, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc. (Mar.)

PreS-Gr 2--Dreamy, earth-toned pastel drawings and quiet, spare text are used to great effect in this lovely book about a boy's curiosity and wonder about the natural world. A boy and his older sister, both with brown skin, are shown walking around their neighborhood smelling magnolia blossoms, admiring a quince tree, and gathering a bunch of daffodils. Then it's off to her garden to weed out the crabgrass and clover, while leaving the fledgling vegetable sprouts to continue growing. Through it all, the boy wonders why some plants are vegetables, some flowers, and others weeds, and how his sister knows so much. (When they encounter an unknown plant, the sister offers to look it up in one of her books--a novelty in this digital age!) The pictures are almost cinematic, as the point of view changes from page to page: the characters are shown from above, below, up-close, far away, and as shadowy outlines in one spread, perhaps reflecting the boy's journey from wonder to experience. A delightful addition to any library's collection, perfect for those with an interest in plants and gardening. VERDICT A thought-provoking book about the joys of the natural world, with a sprinkling of kid-friendly philosophy; this gentle book could be slipped into the gardening shelves or left out for browsers as curious as the main characters.--Sue Morgan