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The Curious Garden (by Peter Brown)

common sense media says

Hopeful tale with unique artwork will inspire all ages.


parents & educators say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this book will inspire kids to look for plants in the most unlikely places, and challenge them to learn how to tend them and make them grow and spread.

Educational value: Teaches that one person, even a kid doing something small, can make a big difference in the world. Also, shows kids that they can get better at something if they work at it, and read about it too.
Positive messages: A little boy's love of exploring leads him to the plants. His curiosity leads him to start tending the plants. He studies and learns to become a better gardener, and all of his efforts pay off to make the world a better place.
Positive role models: The boy is a wonderful role model for kids. He is good-hearted, curious, earnest, and responsible.

More on The Curious Garden

What to talk about

Talk to your kids
  • Families can talk about the city. What made it so dreary? Why did most people stay inside, and why do you think the boy went out? Which do you think you would rather do?
  • How did Liam help the plants? What did they need, and how did he learn what to do?
  • What happened when Liam tended the plants? Where did they go, and how did they move so far? Do you think that would really happen? Could it?
  • What happened when the plants began to grow in other parts of the city? When the whole community began tending the plants, how did their city change?

What's the story?

What's the story?
While exploring, a curious young boy discovers a few struggling plants on an abandoned railroad trestle. With tender care and a little research, he ignites an explosion of flowers, grasses, vines, and shrubs, and changes his community forever.

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 

Is the garden called curious because it's strange and almost magical, or because, given half a chance, it's a garden bent on exploring every nook and cranny of Liam's world? In either case, the way it bursts into bloom with just a bit of tender care is inspirational.  And, the way it awakens the entire community is a lesson for us all. 

The story here is original, as is the artwork that moves it along. The eye-catching paintings are simple yet complicated, and amazingly expressive, especially the landscapes. In the beginning, the beige-toned city, highlighted only by black smoke puffing out into the beige sky, is the very definition of a drab, dreary industrial world. Then little by little, color returns until, like a patchwork quilt, the city is patterned, and green, and lush. And the sky behind the billowing white clouds is a vivid blue.

The best part is the hopeful lesson. Not only does the young boy change his drab world into a beautiful garden, one plant at a time, but, in the process, he also inspires people all around him to love and tend their gardens, too.  

Colorful and expressive, but not over-the-top glossy, the almost surreal artwork in this book really tells the story. The cover itself, with its shrubs in the shape of birds and butterflies, promises a magical world teeming with green grasses, fields of daisies,  and billowing white clouds in the blue, blue sky. And the rest of the book delivers. Painted in acrylic and gouache, the boy's city changes from a plant-less, grey industrial place to a very colorful one filled with gardens and gardeners. Sans words, several full-paged illustrations in the middle of the book are particularly amazing in color and detail.

Book themes & details

Book Details
Author: Peter Brown
Illustrator: Peter Brown
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date: April 1, 2009
Number of pages: 40
Hardcover price: $16.99
Read Aloud: 4
Read Alone: 7

This review was written by Patricia Tauzer
 
 

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ginapina
parent
 
great story, beautiful pictures

An independent voice for families
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ON: Content is appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child, some content may not be right for some kids
OFF: Not age appropriate for kids this age