Planting the WILD Garden

Planting the Wild Garden

By Kathryn O. Galbraith

Illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin

Peachtree Publishers, 2011

ISBN #978-1-56145-563-8

Ages 4-8

Nonfiction picture book

Welcome to Week 2 of Peachtree’s Blog Tour. This week I’m featuring a book I loved and hope you enjoy it, too. Check out all the other blogs on the  tour this week here.

“The farmer and her boy plant their garden. They drop seeds—tiny, fat, round, and oval—into the earth. From these seeds, pumpkins and peas, carrots and cabbages will grow.

In the wild meadow garden, many sees are planted too, but not by farmers’ hands.”

From the seed-filled endpapers to the bibliography, this lovely book takes the reader outdoors to nature and all the fascinating ways seeds grow new plant life. Beginning in the garden, a woman and child place seeds in the earth. At the same time, seeds are being distributed in nature by animals, people, and even plants themselves, that will grow into new plants, providing food and distributing more seeds in the way only nature can do. 

The text flows up and down, almost as if on the wind on one spread and popping from a seed pod on the next. The pencil and watercolor art spreads across the pages and the soft colors convey a peaceful sense of busy activity. Minnows, rabbits, raccoons, foxes, and people join the parade of seed distributors in a realistic, yet adorable, rendering.

This book would be a wonderful introduction to a nature unit, a seeds unit, life cycles, or spring book. It opens up the world of nature and the cycles that occur and the marvels of science unfold in its pages. Galbraith’s text is equally matched by Halperin’s art. Peachtree produces beautiful picture books and this is an outstanding one.

Activity 1

Look up the life cycle of a particular seed. This image shows an acorn in its life cycle. Use folded paper to illustrate four stages of the acorn as it grows.

Activity 2

Plant a bean seed in a paper cup and set up a germination of several seeds in a plastic bag with a wet paper towel so the children can see how the seed sprouts. Have them record the progress by keeping a written or drawing log and record the date.

Write about their activity or do one together.

Activity 3

Look up more information about how seeds are dispersed in nature. This site has animated examples.

Here is more about what seeds need to grow.

National science standard: organisms in the environment; life cycles of organisms

Book courtesy of Blue Slip Media

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