The Enchanted Gardening Book [Hardcover]

Alice Herck (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

A collection of simple gardening activities includes such projects as a doll's garden of miniature flowers and vegetables, an herbal garden for homemade tea and potpourri, and a ""secret garden.""

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5. Herck employs a magical, fanciful air throughout this slim volume and urges readers to "change the future of the natural world" by creating a doll garden, miniature rain forest (terrarium), secret garden, Japanese rock garden, or butterfly garden. Instructions are also given for using the flowers (home grown or store bought) to make gifts. This is not gardening on the cheap or for the beginner?children are advised to play it safe and buy seedlings rather than seeds and some plans are rather ambitious?miniature rose bushes for novice indoor gardeners? Graves's colorful illustrations are wonderful; a profusion of flowers and plants frames each page and one is almost tempted to try to sniff the endpapers for fragrant aromas. However, they are mostly decorative, as the different types of flora are rarely identified. Less whimsy, but a lot more practical information can be found for the youngest in Angela Wilkes's My First Garden Book (Knopf, 1992). For the more experienced, Diane Rhoades's Garden Crafts for Kids (Sterling, 1995) is a joyful compilation of hands-on gardening know-how, recipes, crafts, experiments, etc.?Marilyn Payne Phillips, University City Public Library, MO
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 3^-6. Here's a book with both pluses and minuses. True to the subtitle, Herck offers lots of gardening ideas, from such basics as transplanting and drying flowers to extremely challenging concepts such as building a Japanese rock garden. It would take at least a middle-grader to read the instructions and follow through, yet the format is that of a pretty picture book, with the children in the illustrations often seeming too young for the projects they are carrying out. And although some of the ideas will appeal more to adults (a mint garden, for instance), others, like a doll's garden, seem babyish. Only for larger collections or where gardening books are in demand, though there are some lovely elements that do appeal. Ilene Cooper

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (February 11, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679880968
• ISBN-13: 978-0679880967
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,843,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing text with incredible illustrations, January 19, 2003

By 

Jessica Ferguson "threelittlebirds" (Woodbury, NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Enchanted Gardening Book (Hardcover)

Despite the ambitious title of this book, the projects found inside, ranging from planting a terrarium to creating a Japanese rock garden, are a bit lacking. The reader is given only the most vague growing information without any scientific background or general gardening knowledge. The author, in fact, recommends that the reader seek out books on roses for her Rose Garden project! While flowers and herbs are included in the book's projects, vegetables are completely overlooked. However, the illustrations are absolutely beautiful, very Victorian in nature, and are inspirational in their sheer floriferous-ness. Although this is not a "one stop shop" book, the basic project ideas combined with the illustrations, may provide a very beginning young gardener with some incentives to get growing!