Book Description
for Secrets of the Garden by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld and Priscilla Lamont
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
A young girl describes her family’s efforts planting, tending, and eventually harvesting their garden in this informational picture book that pairs a fictional story line, which itself provides plenty of facts about growing things, with a factual narrative developed as an ongoing commentary from chickens Maisy and Daisy. In addition to the poultry’s patter (dialogue shown with the use of speech bubbles), information is provided in charts, diagrams, and other dimensions of the illustrations in a book that discusses how plants store energy, and their role in the larger food chain and food web. The facts go down easily, and the garden comes up beautifully, in a story that culminates with a bountiful autumn harvest. (Ages 4–8)
CCBC Choices 2013. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2013. Used with permission.