Our Community Garden [Hardcover]

Barbara Pollak (Author)

Book Description

If you could plant a garden that would represent your personality and heritage, what would it include? Maybe cherry tomatoes, green peppers and delicious blueberries? Audrey Aubergine and her neighbourhood friends do just that in a community garden as they play hide-and-seek amidst giant sunflowers, count ladybugs and make compost mazes. Readers will enjoy following the garden's progress and will be inspired to start one of their own. Author and illustrator Barbara Pollak's colourful illustrations highlight the children's daily adventures in the garden. At the end of the story, the children and their families gather for a potluck to celebrate their garden and enjoy the fruits of their labour.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3–Audrey lives in San Francisco, where she and her friends have plots in a community garden. They plant, weed, and water to raise their favorite vegetables: Tomas grows tomatillos for salsa, Alison nurtures asparagus beans for a stir-fry with tofu, and Audrey cultivates eggplants. After the harvest, the children make delicious dishes from their produce and the community gathers for a feast. Pollak's quirky, vibrant artwork adds pizzazz to this straightforward story. Some illustrations depict gardening tools or insects, while others use a more whimsical, folk-art style. A girl peers through stalks of asparagus taller than she is. Insects as large as gliders hover above children counting them. The flat perspective and boldly colored backgrounds add to the visual appeal. Compared with the plants and insects, the human faces have a bland, almost cookie-cutter appearance, distinguished mainly by variations in skin color and hairstyle. If the characters' enjoyment in gardening doesn't convince some youngsters to try raising plants themselves, the splendid feast at the end may at least encourage them to taste some unfamiliar vegetable dishes.–Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato
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Review

"Pollak's quirky, vibrant artwork adds pizzazz to this straightforward story.... If the characters' enjoyment in gardening doesn't convince some youngsters to try raising plants themselves, the splendid feast at the end may at least encourage them to taste some unfamiliar vegetable dishes."

—School Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Aladdin/Beyond Words (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582701091
• ISBN-13: 978-1582701097
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #657,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #70 in Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Nature > Gardening

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lovely piece which teaches kids about community, October 12, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Our Community Garden (Hardcover)

How is a community garden different from a personal backyard garden? Our Community Garden is a first-person lyrical story which brings together the goals and experiences of one Audrey Aubergine and her friends, who tend their community garden and play together there. Add folk art colorful illustrations and warm drawings and you have a lovely piece which teaches kids about community garden fellowship as they read the story of working together.