Millie Fleur's Poison Garden (Christy Mandin)

 

This is a super cute story with a great message. Be yourself!! 

It would be fun to plant some strange garden plants after reading this.

Goodreads says:
Wednesday Addams meets The Curious Garden in this delightfully peculiar story about finding joy in being wonderfully weird.

Garden Glen is a very bland place. Every house and every garden looks exactly like the other. That is… until Millie Fleur La Fae comes to town.

Up on a scruffy hill, beside a ramschackle house, Millie Fleur plants her marvelously strange garden, filled with Sneezing Stickyweed, Fanged Fairymoss, and Grumpy Gilliflower. Millie Fleur finds it enchanting, but the townspeople of Garden Glen call it poison!

But Millie Fleur is proud of her beloved little garden. So if some townspeople want to be sticks in the mud, she'll take matters into her own hands and find the kindred spirits who appreciate everything the garden has to offer.

Millie Fleur's Poison Garden is a reminder to embrace everything that makes us wonderfully weird. Perfect for readers of The Creepy Carrots and fans of the Addams Family movies.

City Beet (Tziporah Cohen)

 

Super cute way of engaging in learning about cooperation and community.

Goodreads says:

When a notice for a community potluck is posted, Victoria and her neighbor Mrs. Kosta decide to bring a beet salad as their contribution. But first they need to grow this special vegetable for their dish. They plant the seeds in their garden plot, and throughout the summer they water, fertilize, weed, and mulch. And they watch their beet grow and grow and grow. On potluck day, it's time to harvest so they can make their salad. Victoria grabs the garlic and the grater and Mrs. Kosta steps up to remove the beautiful red veg from its underground home. But their care and attention has grown the biggest beet ever, and it stubbornly refuses to come loose. This beet won't budge! Will Victoria and Mrs. Kosta be able to make their special salad? Not to worry--help comes in all shapes and sizes. This clever, humorous take on an old folktale is a celebration of community and the ways we all come together. Back matter includes a beet salad recipe.

Diary of a Worm (Doreen Cronin)

 

Today it was raining and there were HUGE rooms in our courtyard. I gave my students buckets and they went out and gathered up the worms who were trying to move to a new home to help them out. This book seemed like the perfect way to end the day.

Best line was when he tells his sister to quit looking in the mirror because her face looks just like her butt. LOL 


We also watched this video to learn some more about worms:

Goodreads says:

This is the diary . . . of a worm. Surprisingly, a worm not that different from you or me: He lives with his parents, plays with his friends, and even goes to school. But unlike you or me, he never has to take a bath, he gets to eat his homework, and because he doesn't have legs, he just can't do the hokey pokey -- no matter how hard he tries. Oh, and his head looks a lot like his rear end.

Doreen Cronin, the New York Times best-selling author of Click, Clack, Moo and Giggle, Giggle, Quack, teams up with illustrator Harry Bliss for this hysterical journal about the daily doings and the hidden world of a lovable underground dweller.

The Donkey Egg (Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel)

Fox thinks he can trick Bear, but in the end, Fox is hoodwinked. Bear does in fact make something amazing happen with this huge Donkey egg he sits on and waits to hatch. 
 

Goodreads says:

Featuring Bear and Hare from their Caldecott-Honor winning Tops & Bottoms, the Stevens sisters celebrate perseverance and teamwork in this laugh-out-loud story of triumph over trickery.

Bear would rather sleep all day than work on his farm, and Fox knows just the kind of help he needs—a donkey! When Fox tricks Bear into buying a donkey egg, Bear can't wait for it to hatch so he can meet his new friend. But donkeys don't come from eggs! And when the "egg" finally opens, Bear gets a fruity surprise. Luckily, Bear doesn't have to face disappointment alone . . . Hare is there to help!

The Gardener of Alcatraz (Emma Bland Smith)

 

The illustrations in this story are detailed and really held everyone's attention. My class was totally silent as I read it. I think they were struck by the idea of a story about criminal. One of our students had visited Alcatraz and so she told us a bit about it to start, which was really great. This is a great story of how people can change and the value of nature. 

Goodreads says:

A prisoner gardens his way to freedom in this inspiring picture-book biography.

When Elliott Michener was locked away in Alcatraz for counterfeiting, he was determined to defy the odds and bust out. But when he got a job tending the prison garden, a funny thing happened. Thoughts of escape were replaced with new interests and skills--and a sense of dignity and fulfillment. Elliott transformed Alcatraz Island, and the island transformed him.

Told with empathy and a storyteller's flair, Elliott's story is funny, touching, and unexpectedly relevant. Back matter about the history of Alcatraz and the US prison system today invites meaningful discussion. 

Mrs Spitzer's Garden (Edith Pattou)

 

No children are mentioned in this book, but the connection between what the teacher does to nurture and help children grow spoke to my heart. 

This would be a great book to give someone when they graduate in education or when they retire. The author write up says that she wrote it originally to give to her daughter's kindergarten teacher.

Goodreads says:

A beautiful, moving story and the perfect teacher appreciation gift

Mrs. Spitzer is a wise teacher who knows many things. She knows about gardens. She knows about children. She knows how similar they are, and how both will flourish if tended lovingly.

There are many remarkable teachers like Mrs. Spitzer in the world, and Edith Pattou's simple, moving story along with Tricia Tusa's inspired, whimsical illustrations celebrate all they do, year after year, to help our children grow and blossom.

The Seedling That Didn't Want To Grow (Britta Teekentrup)

 

Sometimes personal growth just takes time and not everyone has to grow like everyone else.
My favorite page is the one where you have to turn the book to see how big the plant has grown.

Goodreads says:

This story about a reluctant seedling packs a powerful message about the benefits of being different.

It's early spring and below the earth's surface seeds are just starting to sprout. One by one they stretch through the dirt and towards the sun, extending their shoots and leaves and growing tall. All except for one seedling, who isn't quite ready. Each page of this gentle but powerfully evocative book demonstrates how some of us are different. As most of the seeds transform into strong flowers, they block out the sun from the one left behind. But the little seedling persists, twisting and turning until, with the help of bird and insect friends, it finds its own place to grow and blossom. In the end, this little seed turns into a flower that's just as beautiful and healthy as all the others. Hailed by Publishers Weekly as "delicate, complex, extravagant, beautiful and strong," Teckentrup's inviting and softly colored illustrations provide the perfect backdrop for this moving tale about being unique while subtly teaching kids about the life cycle of plants.

The Curious Garden (Peter Brown)

 

This is beautiful! I love how the author talks about how the garden had its own personality. It's true that if one person starts to make something beautiful, others will get interested! The plant life started a life of its' own.

Best comment from one of my students: I was surprised that one kid could make that big a difference. 

Goodreads says:
One boy's quest for a greener world... one garden at a time.

While out exploring one day, a little boy named Liam discovers a struggling garden and decides to take care of it. As time passes, the garden spreads throughout the dark, gray city, transforming it into a lush, green world.

This is an enchanting tale with environmental themes and breathtaking illustrations that become more vibrant as the garden blooms. Red-headed Liam can also be spotted on every page, adding a clever seek-and-find element to this captivating picture book.

June 29, 1999 (David Weisner)

 

This story is so great. It takes you down one road and the end is a big surprise when aliens are dropping their vegetables. So many unanswered questions!

Goodreads says:

The lively imagination of Caldecott medalist David Wiesner forecasts astounding goings-on for a Tuesday in the not too distant future -- an occurrence of gigantic vegetal proportions.

The Imaginary Garden (Andrew Larsen)

 

Grandpa has moved into an apartment and really, there's nowhere for a garden. Imagination can solve that problem though. Beautiful illustration! This book won the Govenor General's Literacy Award. Another great Canadian author from Montreal. He also wrote Bye Bye Butterflies. 

Goodreads says:

Theodora loved her grandfather's old garden. His new apartment's balcony is too windy and small for a garden. But what appears to be a drawback soon leads to a shared burst of creativity as Theo and her Poppa decide to paint a new garden. As they work side by side — sowing seeds with brushes and paint — a masterpiece begins to take shape that transforms the balcony into an abundant garden.

When Poppa goes away on holiday, Theo helps nurture the garden and it begins to take on a life of its own. This garden grows not from soil but from love, imagination and creativity.

Readers will marvel at each stage of this fertile garden as it grows from seed to full flower, revealing the power of art to enrich our lives.