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From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

A gaggle of toddlers engages in playful hands-on learning in the garden. Conversational question-and-answer text gently encourages exploration as the toddlers plant peas in the soil and wait patiently for them to grow. Fortunately, there are plenty of other things to explore in the meantime. “How do you make mud? Dig a path for the water to go. Make a river. Flood it! Mix, mix, mix. Mmmmm! Mud!” The toddlers greet critters like the titular worm (“Gently, very gently”) and bees (“Look but don’t poke … Listen but don’t grab”) and build a stick structure to support the growing pea sprouts. (It doubles as a play hut.) When enough time has passed, the children learn how to recognize a ripe strawberry, how to pull a carrot, and how to pop open a peapod to reach the tasty peas inside. Two Afterwords—one “for kids” and one “for grown-ups”—provide additional guidance on how to garden with (or as) a toddler. Silkscreen illustrations show a racially diverse group of toddlers, including one who uses canes and wears leg braces.   (Ages 1-4)

CCBC Choices 2023 © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2023. Used with permission.

From Kirkus

May 1, 2022
A great guide to growing young gardeners! This book lives up to its name with a straightforward question-and-answer format that's perfect for interested toddlers and preschoolers. Children by a raised garden bed plant lettuce seeds with a "sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle. / Pat, pat, pat." The first steps of planting peas are different, but all newly planted seeds need a drink. The garden rules of insect etiquette are clear. "How do you say hello to a worm? / Gently, very gently." And to a ladybug? "Let her crawl onto your finger. / Count her spots. / Say, Hello, Ladybug! before she flies away." A bee? "Look but don't poke... / Listen but don't grab." As they follow the growth of their garden, the children experience the joy of feeling pea tendrils curling around their fingers, having a tea party inside a play hut made from pea plants and tall sticks, and making mud. Backmatter suggests creating a "dig zone" with a clear border so kids can play and the main garden can stay safe. Finally, the children get to taste the food they've grown. In a slight mismatch, the children plant lettuce and peas but carefully and joyfully harvest strawberries, carrots, and peas. Illustrations created with silkscreen and collaged in Photoshop pop against a white background and show children of various ethnicities. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Eye-catching art and simple, clear text plant the seeds for a young gardener. (Picture book. 1-4)

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From Publisher's Weekly

Starred review from December 20, 2021
In this deceptively simple, sparkling debut, a group of young children plant a garden in raised beds and watch it grow. Percival shows rather than tells, deploying a q&a format that involves the children’s exclamations as well as conversational instructions based in noticing. (“Look! Pea plants! See how they curl around your finger?” leads to a simple tutorial on building a support structure.) Digitally manipulated silkscreen images retain their handmade feel, showing successive views of children with varying abilities and skin tones, whose expressions reveal their absorption from the first spread: “How do you plant lettuce seeds?” Responding to the question via action, one child is shown sowing the seeds (“Sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle”), another covers them with soil (“Pat, pat, pat”), and a third waters (“Now make some rain!”). Through action, the children learn to touch the insects they encounter (“gently, very gently”) and to judge a strawberry’s ripeness (“This one? Not yet. Too green”). Without picturing a single adult, Percival conveys the joy children can feel in working together, being outdoors, and eating food they’ve grown themselves—all with a fizzy immediacy. Back matter offers gardening tips and notes for adults on gardening with toddlers. Ages 2–4.