The Green Truck Garden Giveaway: A Neighborhood Story and Almanac [Hardcover]

Jacqueline Briggs Martin (Author), Alec Gillman (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up

Offering a host of gardening tips, garden lore, history, and recipes, this colorfully illustrated book chronicles the efforts of the residents of Second Street to clean up the trash and plant gardens in their neighborhood.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-3?Hastings and Lura are two modern Johnny Appleseeds who travel around in their old green pickup searching for ugly towns to beautify with their giveaway gardens. Descending on litter-full Second Street, these do-gooders give their gardening pitch to three odd neighbors: McDermitt, a grouch; Aunt Olive, a ballroom dancer; and Freddy Junior, a bored, freckle-faced kid. Although all three are resistant to adding color, dirt, or excitement to their selfish lives, Lura and Hastings find that the trick to making converts is simply to match the plant to the personality. So McDermitt gets "thornbushes and brambles" (roses and raspberries); Olive gets marigolds and salad vegetables; and Freddy gets pumpkins. Plus, they each get a free copy of The Green Truck Almanac. Once the seeds take off, the three novices are hooked and the whole neighborhood is magically transformed by a clean-up campaign. Sidebar samples from the almanac include folktales and myths surrounding agriculture, natural "bugs-hate-it" potions, and plans for creating butterfly gardens. Garden Giveaway is a bit busy, and Gillman's watercolor and colored-pencil people are reminiscent of the Duracell-charged folks in the campy TV ads. But the excitement of growing plants is undeniable. As long as young readers grasp that a handful of "The sun came up. The sun went down" incantations translate into seasonal timelines and don't become insufferably impatient, they should be inspired to plant something.?John Sigwald, Unger Memorial Library, Plainview,
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 5^-8. Two strangers drive their green pickup truck down Second Street, giving away almanacs and planting small gardens for reluctant neighbors. As time goes by, the gardens thrive and so do the neighbors, who begin to share their harvest of produce and happiness with others. Throughout the book, informative sidebars tell readers about topics related (however marginally) to the story: why medieval insomniacs ate lettuce, what to plant in order to attract butterflies, and how to make sprays that repel insects from plants. Okay, it's too much for 32 pages, but young children can follow the story without listening to three installments of "Grow Your Own Bucket Gardens," and older children will read the parts that interest them and skip the rest. The engaging ink, watercolor, and colored-pencil artwork illustrates the text with zest and style. From the pictures that recall tinted Farmer's Almanac engravings to the more child-appealing scenes of neighbors slowly transformed by their gardens, there's a lot to look at here and plenty to like. CIP places the book in fiction, but librarians may find it more useful in the gardening section or with picture books. Carolyn Phelan

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Juv); 1st edition (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689804989
• ISBN-13: 978-0689804984
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,231,925 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jacqueline Briggs Martin is the author of Snowflake Bentley, winner of the 1999 Caldecott Medal. She grew up on a farm in Maine and now she lives in Mt. Vernon, Iowa.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A parable of compassion vs. misery, February 23, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Green Truck Garden Giveaway: A Neighborhood Story and Almanac (Hardcover)

This tiny tome is in actuality a parable of compassion vs. misery, a story of triumph of life and vitality over common desperation. It is an example of how good work that encompasses the light of the sun and the miracle of the seed supersedes the doldrums of disenfranchised lives. The recipients of the gardens thumb their noses at their personal misfortune and rise to find that beauty and joy are possible. The garden givers have brought them that possibility. It is a sound Emersonian lesson for children. And fun to read.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book - I Know the Author, April 5, 2002

By 

William Bradford "hipster818" (Palos Park, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Green Truck Garden Giveaway: A Neighborhood Story and Almanac (Hardcover)

I read this book when I was a junior at Cornell College, no relation to the Univ, and Jackie Martin was the Prof. At first I did not like the set up of the book at first, yet when I thought about the wide range of readers this book apeals to I enjoyed it more. The side bars are interesting and would be use full in some cases to the adult -- i.e. teacher, or parent -- yet older children who find this book interesting will want to know more and find them most usefull. Also the basic story line will be interesting to younger children and I have used read it seveal times to the first grade children I tutor in Ohio. It is well written and is a perfect book to read when spring come around or for a group project dealing with spring.