The Curious Garden
List Price: $16.99 Our Price: $11.55 You Save: $5.44 (32%) Availability: | Usually ships in 24 hours (as of 12:39 AM CT - detail) |
Product Description
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.
Spotlight Customer Reviews:
Summary:
This is a beautiful book with a message of hope and an aura of joy surrounding a little boy who loves his garden!
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Comment:
The city looked as gray and overcast as the polluted sky above it. The factory smokestacks spewed their black smoke into the smoggy mix above. Trucks and even a tugboat in the harbor were adding to the mixture. Not many people wanted to go outside, but Liam loved it, "even on drizzly days." Like all curious boys he loved to wander. One day he found a very interesting spot on top of an old railway el. The steel rails were intact, but the timbers were rotting and broken. There were, however, a few colorful and interesting things to be seen. They were plants!
Liam never gardened before, but he soon could be seen over watering the plants, clipping and snipping and singing to them. After some time Liam "began to feel like a real gardener, and the plants began to feel like a real garden." The garden began to grow and spread down the tracks. There were some weeds moving along and gnarly mosses, but at least they too were colorful. Daisies sprang up everywhere in stark contrast to the destruction and dilapidated buildings around them. Winter came and Liam had to let his little garden lay dormant. In the spring he began to sing and work his magic, but would other people begin to notice the change his little garden had made?
This is a beautiful book with a message of hope and an aura of joy surrounding a little boy who loves his garden. Little by little, each child in the world can contribute in their own small way to reversing the destruction of the environment they unwittingly inherited. The artwork was very quaint and the dark hues changed to bright ones as Liam's garden and dream began to spread to other people. In the back the author offers up his thoughts on how "nature can thrive in the unlikeliest of places." This would be a marvelous read and discuss book in the homeschool and classroom setting!
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Summary:
Sweet children's book that opens the door to deeper discussions
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Comment:
A year or more ago, someone gave this book to one of my children for a birthday or holiday or something. It became a favorite for me to read to them. They like that the little boy took this tiny garden and made it grow and made all the other people want to grow gardens too. I like that it shows them that no matter your age, you can make a positive impact on the environment and on others around you. This book allowed me to talk to my kids about deeper issues because it brought it down to a level they understood and opened the door to explaining more about how the world works and what we can do to make it better. The illustrations are absolutely adorable. They actually missed it on our Summer vacation and we bought it for the Kindle DX so we could enjoy it then too, but nothing beats the art in the book itself. A must have for your shelf at home.
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Summary:
So sweet.
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Comment:
I love this book. The illustrations are magnificant. The story is simple yet has a deep undertone of taking care our earth, our enviroment, our creativity, our hard work. It teaches kids that with a little imagination and dirty hands we can make a huge influence on our surroundings and our communittee. I know a lot of adults who could benefit from this book.
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Summary:
Happy story of a boy and his growing garden
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Comment:
The Curious Garden is a pleasing, comforting tale about a boy who discovers a colorful patch of plantings in an otherwise gray and dreary city. Children (preschoolers through early elementary age) will love hearing the story of Liam and his garden that grows and spreads through-out the city, delighting the people who see it and begin to garden too. This is an uplifting story that will send you outdoors to enjoy your own garden or park.
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Summary:
Absolutely Delightful
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Comment:
This is truly a delightful story. Liam is a young boy who enjoys spending time outdoors in a dull, gray city where everyone stays inside. One day during his wandering walk, he discovers the way to the old railway that was above-ground. He'd always meant to explore up there, and this particular day he does.
Liam finds a little patch of garden (the only one in the city) and begins to care for it. He takes care of it until winter, then spends the winter preparing for the spring. Pretty soon the city is filled with beauty and more and more people are taking care of the garden.
I really didn't do it justice, but this is a lovely book that I will be adding to our collection. It has a nice message about caring for things, even those that may be out of the way, or a little more trouble. And believe me, it's not a `message' book where they pound an idea into your head. Instead it's the realization that we all contribute to make this world a better place.
Notes on the Cover:
Young Liam sitting on a tree with a low brick wall behind him. If you didn't read the book you wouldn't think too much about his garden and why it's curious. The shrubs trimmed into the shapes of a butterfly and two birds just adds to the attraction of this cover.
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