Customer Reviews

Carrie Hepple's Garden

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This was my favorite book as a child. The watercolor painting in it are very vivid, you feel as if you were right there in the story. It is great for young children to teach them about accepting others and that what you see isn't always how a person is. The children in this story let their imaginations run wild about Carrie Hepple and the sorts of things she does in her garden. Perhaps she is a witch! When forced to go into her garden to find thier ball, they find out what a sweet lady she really is! I highly recomend this to anyone!

This book should be read to or by all children before they reach school age. It is a wonderful book, with beautiful dreamy watercolor illustrations and a lilting text that often lapses into poetry. Two young children are afraid of the next door neighbor, Carrie Hepple, who they think is a witch. she is reclusive and her garden, as spied through holes in the fence, is a dark jungle of plants. When their ball goes into her yard they argue about who will retrieve it and then reluctantly both decide to go. The unthinkable happens when they get caught by Carrie Hepple! However, as they are about to learn, you should never judge a book by its cover. Carrie takes them on a tour of the garden, pointing out plants and interesting happenings, such as the midnight visitor. Once they find the ball, she offers them warm, fresh cookies and they go back home with a very different view of Carrie Hepple. This is a gentle and lovely way to approach the topic of pre-judging people or mimicking other people's gossip about someone. If all children could learn this lesson early in life, we may be able to do away with school yard bullies and the isolation that "different" people feel. I love this book so much that I scour the internet for used copies and give them to every pregnant woman I meet.