What Happens When a Garden Starts Growing?

Our town library is open with limited hours, and of course my parents make sure we get in each week to find new stories. It's exciting to see all the great book displays. Spring is the theme in the library, and Margo was drawn to the cover of this week’s favorite. 

The Curious Garden was written and illustrated by Peter Brown. The unique looking trees and shrubs on the cover made me wonder if the book would be about a real or fantastical garden. I would love to read about both!

Liam lives in a dreary city. Most people stay inside, but he loves to be outside, no matter the weather or how gray the day seems. One day while out walking he notices stairs near the old railway, and he has to climb them to see where they lead. Liam is surprised to find dead plants among the broken railway. He can tell they need care even though he isn’t a gardener. Every day Liam tends to the garden. Sometimes he waters the plants too much and other days not enough. But he is learning. As the months go by, the garden flourishes and starts to spread out, growing along the old railway.  New plants and flowers bloom. Color is everywhere, until the snow comes. Liam plans during the winter, and when spring arrives he's ready with his tools to help the plants wake up from their sleep. It doesn’t take long before the plants are thriving, and each year they spread out more and more. The plants in the garden are curious and want to know what's out there, so they keep moving and expanding. More gardeners start helping take care of the plants and flowers. The city is coming alive with beauty, and it is fabulous to watch! 

The Curious Garden is a book that will make you want to get your hands in the soil and help nurture the plants! The illustrations are beautiful and it is fun to look at all the details included on each page. My little sister, Margo, had a blast because she could spot Liam, with his bright red hair, in every picture. She’d point and laugh, “There he is!” The story helps remind the reader how important it is to treat our planet with kindness. We can help make it a happier place. Each effort we make changes our surrounding, and others may even catch our enthusiasm. I love to grow plants, and seeing everything start blooming in the spring fills my heart with hope and happiness. Even though the seasons change and our greenery gets covered in blankets of snow, we know that the world will burst with color once again. It’s the perfect time to read this book and get inspired to help some plants reawaken and grow. We are already planning our garden and will get to work as soon as it warms up a bit (we need to let the bees and other bugs finish resting for a little longer). I know we will be reading this book a few more times before returning it to the library. It's impossible not to fall into the illustrations! 

Has anyone else read The Curious Garden? Or have you read another book written by Peter Brown? We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Happy Reading!
~F

Answer to Fairday's Riddle: The Plot Grows...

Excellent guessing, Riddlers! We'll be digging up a good plot next week, so stay tuned! See you all around the book block. ~ f

Rainbow dew drop on spider web. Seasons shift; flow and ebb. Spring bright hues burst up from below; spectrum intention— to fervently glow. Bees pirouette in nectar tutus; lady bugs shimmy to aphid cues. Chomping caterpillars soon will fly, and flowers will appear to flitter off into sky. Find a spot ripe with ground; hear life buzzing all around. Nourishment gained by human hand comes from caring for this bit of land. The plot's even better when it's a secret, who knows what treasures you'll get a peek at?  

What am I referring to? Answer: Garden

Fairday's Riddle: Spring Secret...

Hello, Riddlers! Can you guess our theme? This is one of my absolute favorite places to be after the winter moves on. ~ F

Rainbow dew drop on spider web. Seasons shift; flow and ebb. Spring bright hues burst up from below; spectrum intention— to fervently glow. Bees pirouette in nectar tutus; lady bugs shimmy to aphid cues. Chomping caterpillars soon will fly, and flowers will appear to flitter off into sky. Find a spot ripe with ground; hear life buzzing all around. Nourishment gained by human hand comes from caring for this bit of land. The plot's even better when it's a secret, who knows what treasures you'll get a peek at?  

What am I referring to? Stop by Friday for the answer.

I gave you a clue!

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday #MMGM: The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Milo can't find a reason to do anything. What's the point? Whenever he's here, he wants to be there, and once he's there, he wants to go back again. Bored, bored, double bored. Everything is so boring, and seeking knowledge is the most useless waste of time there is. Learning about new things seemed ridiculous to Milo, until a mysterious gift arrived one typical afternoon. It was an enormous box with a note attached that read, "FOR MILO, WHO HAS PLENTY OF TIME." Curious, Milo opens the box and finds instructions on how to assemble a GENUINE TURNPIKE TOLLBOOTH, along with tokens and a detailed map. Shrugging off the day, he dusts off his car, motors it out of the corner, drives through the tollbooth and drops his token. Milo has no clue where he's going, and he doesn't recognize any of the places on the map. He decides Dictionopolis will be his destination, and he's off.

While traveling to Dictionopolis, Milo makes makes a wrong turn and finds himself lost in the Doldrums, where he meets a new travel companion named Tock, who keeps him on track during their journey. Milo and Tock need their wits about them when dealing with the colorful characters that pop up along the way. When they find out that two princesses, Rhyme and Reason, were unfairly banished to a castle in the sky, they start on their quest to unite the kingdoms of Dictionopolis and Digitopolis and set the princesses free. They encounter many wondrous sites, including a magnificent silent orchestra that plays color and a boy who grows down. Will Milo and Tock find their way through the Mountains of Ignorance? What happens if they jump to conclusions? Will they be able to make words and numbers work together? Can they free Rhyme and Reason? You'll have to read this marvelously fantastic book to find out. 

I soaked this story in. Bravo Norton Juster! I know he just recently passed away. When I saw the news, I remembered this book, and I thought I'd read it before, but I had not, and I'm so glad I did- though I was sorry to hear he died. The scene building and colorful array of characters in this story are delightful. My imagination was on overload, and I loved every minute of reading it. I particularly enjoyed the silent orchestra. This part whisks me away;

Norton Juster weaves the classic elements of fantastic storytelling into gold. Like Alice, who finds her way through Wonderland or Charlie Bucket, who discovers the wonders inside Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, Milo takes a trip through a magic tollbooth and gets caught up in a wild ride into a land beyond, where a king of words and a Mathemagician must come to terms with each other in order for Rhyme and Reason to return to the people. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys books that make you think and challenge your imagination. The illustrations by Jules Feiffer are unique, whimsical, and Edward Gorey-esque- so of course I adore them. Brilliance! 

For other MMGM posts, please visit Greg Pattridge's blog.