Do you want to encourage “thinking outside the box”? Do you want the help a young child’s imagination soar? Do you want to inspire love for nature and gardening? Well, reading Kevin Henkes’ book, My Garden, is certainly one way to achieve these goals. It brims over with enthusiasm and excitement, a perfect pick for a spring reading, or any other time for that matter.
After a little girl helps her mother weed, water, and chase rabbits so they won’t eat the lettuce, she imagines the kind of garden she would like to have. There would be no weeds, flowers would keep blooming and instantly reappear when you picked them. Chocolate rabbits would replace those pesky live ones, jelly beans would grow on bushes, and birds and butterflies would fill the air with their humming wings as huge tomatoes, invisible carrots, and glowing strawberries grew below them. The little girl knows her garden is imaginary but plants a seashell just in case, because you never know what might happen.
Simple sentences in a brief text are complemented by whimsical pictures in pastel colors outlined in navy. Both the text and pictures invite the reader to step into the story and share the experience with the heroine. The joy and fun of an imaginary garden engendered by the story provides a great opportunity for sharing thoughts and encouraging little ones to love gardens and all they have to offer.
And don’t miss the very last page. Anything can happen in a Kevin Henkis book.
To buy My Garden from Amazon.com click here.
