A young girl and her mother grow and tend to an herb garden in the dead of winter, in this poetic picture book accompanied by dreamy watercolor artwork and information on how to grow a wintergarden of your very own. Illustrations. - (Baker & Taylor)
Growing and harvesting an herb garden can be fun and oh so satisfying--even in the dead of winter. - (Baker & Taylor)
Growing and harvesting an herb garden can be fun and oh so satisfying—even in the dead of winter.
Winter outside the window,
Garden on the sill.
With a little bit of love and care, a few seeds nestled in pots, and a good windowsill, there’s no better time to make an herb garden with mom than in the dead of winter. Together, a young girl and her mother can grow everything you find in a spring herb garden, from oregano to parsley and baby greens, carefully tending their plants to watch them thrive, all while frigid snow falls just outside the window. The multiple harvests of fresh greens are just what they need to stay warm through the coldest and darkest season. When Spring finally arrives, there’s one thing on the girl’s mind: more seeds!
In Wintergarden, author Janet Fox’s poetic text is accompanied by the dreamy watercolor artwork of acclaimed illustrator Jasu Hu. Additional material at the back of the book includes information on how to grow your own wintergarden, to make sure you and your family can share fresh greens year-round.
A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year - (Random House, Inc.)
Janet Fox is a former children’s teacher and an author of picture, middle grade, and young adult books. She is the author of the award-winning middle-grade non-fiction book Get Organized Without Losing It, The Faithful Forgiven, and The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle, as well as its companion book The Artifact Hunters. Janet lives with her husband and son in Montana.
Jasu Hu was born in Hunan, China. She has worked as an illustrator in China for six years while studying Visual Communication at Tsinghua University (Beijing). After finishing her MFA in Illustration at MICA (USA), she moved to New York and started working as a freelance illustrator. She also illustrated All You Need, by Howard Schwartz, which was called "A beautiful, poetic look at what one needs to live a good life." by School Library Journal in a starred review. - (Random House, Inc.)
Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* In the depths of winter, a girl and her mother grow a thriving herb garden on their apartment windowsill. The attentive child poetically outlines the planting process, which involves pots of soil that make their kitchen smell "like rain" and sowing "teeny tiny / seeds like freckles, / seeds like eyelashes, / seeds like the wings of bees." With beguiling awe and infectious enthusiasm, the young urban gardener nurtures the plants as they grow, making sure they have enough water and sunlight: "I watch. And wait. And wonder." Outside, the trees are leafless; inside, tiny green sprouts "appear like magic overnight." Hu's exquisite, light-infused watercolor, colored-pencil, and mixed-media illustrations capture the beauty found in scenery from both sides of the window. Delicate crystal shapes on the frosted panes of glass are likened to lacy leaf patterns on the fast-growing, verdant greenery. At harvest time, another sensory-rich experience is on the table for the child to enjoy, as she savors lettuce leaves that "crunch like tiny icicles," and sprigs of oregano that make soup "taste like summer." Back matter offers easy-to-follow instructions and tips on how to grow a windowsill winter garden, and plants seeds for further investigation with a suggested reading list. Botanical joy grows by leaps and bounds in this radiant picture book. Preschool-Grade 3. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews.
