Book Title: In the Garden (available here)

Author/Illustrator: Noelle Smit

Publisher: Little Island

Publication Date: Feb 2020

Most Suitable For: Reception and KS1

Reviewed By: Carol Carter, Librarian

In the Garden follows one garden through the year, month by month, with gorgeous retro illustrations, vibrant colours and clear text showing how the garden changes and the plants grow.

Beginning in January with a cheery ‘Hello! Welcome to our vegetable garden’, we move through months of bare soil and leafless trees to the planting out and flowering of spring, then the jungle of head-high summer sunflowers. Autumn brings pumpkins to carve and the sense of community during harvest, before winter comes around again and the year’s end is celebrated with marshmallows around the fire.

With each month, we can track the progress of the plants, but also the children’s changing outfits, colours of the sky, etc. The thick pages and hardback cover of In the Garden feel like real quality. The sparse yet thoughtful text (1 sentence per page) and simple wording would make this an excellent book for children just beginning to read to themselves, while the pictures are very rewarding with lots of detail to pore over. Children will particularly enjoy spotting what the family cat and sausage dog are up to in each double-page spread.

In the Garden will be a brilliant resource for KS1 teachers covering topics of plant growth and the seasons.

Curriculum Links: Science – Seasons, Things that Grow

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You can order In the Garden online or from your local bookshop or library.

Many thanks to the publisher for sending us a review copy of this book and to Review Panel member Carol for reviewing it.

Where next?

> Visit our Reading for Pleasure Hub

> Browse our Topic Booklists

> View our printable year group booklists.

> See our Books of the Month.