Grow [Hardcover]

Juanita Havill (Author), Stanislawa Kodman (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2008 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Everything about Berneetha is big her mouth, her size, and especially her dreams. And when Berneetha decides to create a community garden on a vacant lot, twelve-year-old Kate Sibley s just got to help make that dream a reality. At first the neighbors think Kate and Berneetha are crazy, but slowly they begin to come around. Graffiti gangster Harlan turns out to be pretty good with a rented tiller. Dr. Chitra Arockiasamy is willing to be in charge of tomatoes. Hank Glover would like to grow corn. And unsmiling Jacob Wasserman somehow manages to get some manure. Slowly, a community begins to grow, just as the garden does.

But just as the garden and Kate are both beginning to bloom, a sign goes up; a parking garage will be built on the lot. Can Kate and Berneetha and their friends keep the garden and the dream alive?

Award-winning author Juanita Havill s story of a community garden in an urban neighborhood and the mismatched people who carefully tend it is told through the eyes of an impressionable girl in a series of richly detailed prose poems. The result is an affecting, lasting portrait of community life and the power of shared commitment and hope.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4–6—Crazy Berneetha believes that she can turn a garbage-strewn vacant lot into a garden and she exudes so much excitement that 12-year-old Kate joins her in her quest. Although the neighbors look askance at the project in the beginning, slowly they are drawn in—graffiti painter Harlan works the tiller, Dr. Arockiasamy from the clinic tends the tomatoes, grumpy Mr. Wasserman provides some manure, and the young Simpson brothers water the plants. As the garden grows, so do the friendships, but trouble lies ahead: the plot has been rezoned and will be turned into a parking garage. Although the neighbors join together, they are unsuccessful in their attempt to stop progress. Just when it looks like all is lost, firefighter Tony offers the empty lot next to the station and the whole community helps to transplant the flowers and vegetables. This short novel in verse is beautifully written with pleasing alliteration and flowing lines. Havill creates real characters with depth even though the text is minimal. Emotions ring true: readers feel Kate's anguish over the death of a cat as well as her exuberance when she realizes there's a solution to an overwhelming problem. The verse is filled with meaningful phrases ("…weeds can be anything, even beautiful flowers…") and is a joy to read. Whimsical line drawings add to the heartwarming story.—Anne Knickerbocker, formerly at Cedar Brook Elementary School, Houston, TX
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

“Corner lot” is a beautiful pun that works as both fact and metaphor in this moving verse novel about a neighborhood garden in Minneapolis, where people across generations and backgrounds find riches in working together.  But there’s more than just message here; there’s a real story, narrated by 12-year-old Kate, in spare, free verse with short lines that say a lot. Stressed about being overweight and sad about her absent dad, Kate finds support from big Berneetha while helping in the garden; the garden thrives as more and more people work there––including a physician, a teenage “graffiti gangster,” and a gay army vet and his partner. They all stand up to officials who want “to bury the flowers and vegetables under slabs of cement” to build a parking garage. With quiet scribbly drawings of the tendrils of snap beans, wild dancing of feet, and lacy leaves, the pages depict the power of working as a community. Grades 2-5. --Hazel Rochman

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Peachtree Publishers (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561454419
• ISBN-13: 978-1561454419
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,032,170 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, June 19, 2008

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grow (Hardcover)

GROW is one of those books that goes down easy. It just has all those elements that makes the reader immediately relax and enjoy the unfolding story. Beginning with great voice and characterization right on the first page, the prose in verse flows right through this entire book so that it's swallowed in one smooth gulp.

Kate may be the narrator of this tale, but Berneetha is the glue that holds everything together. When Berneetha the cat lady decides to grow a garden in the middle of nothing, twelve-year-old Kate is reluctant to help. Everyone is sure to think the two of them are crazy. Except, soon it's not just the two of them. As people join the crusade to clean up the empty lot, more than just a garden is grown from nothing.

"A weed is anything growing

Where you don't want it to grow.

I don't know

where Harlan lives,

only that he looks hungry most days

and he doesn't want

to go home in the evening.

I don't think I'll tell him

about that garden-book

theory of weeds."

This emotional story is shown in brilliant illustrations by Stanislawa Kodman, whose name will stick in my mind because I cannot forget the person who created these drawings. The simple, everyday items that are twisted into beauty. Junk into treasure. The theme of the book perfectly drawn out by both author and illustrator. What a team.

And not to be overlooked is the quality of the book itself. A silky smooth dust jacket, featuring brilliantly composed illustrations by Kodman. Large, light print on the inside that makes an already easy-to-read book even easier on the eye.

The only thing missing from this book is an award sticker.

Reviewed by: Julie M. Prince

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Illustrations, February 28, 2008

By 

Bridget C. Phillips "Leen" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Grow (Hardcover)

This book has some of the most amazing illustrations I've ever seen...

if for some reason you don't like prose, it's still worth it to get the book for the illustrations... just beautiful, delicate, and imaginative.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice story, gorgeous illustrations, May 14, 2008

By 

M. Jalenak "Mijalen" (Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Grow (Hardcover)

Lovely illustrated book for children. Will buy again for gifts for my young (9-year old) cousins.