Quiet in the Garden [Hardcover]

Aliki (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 3, 2009 | Age Level: 2 and up | Grade Level: P and up

I love to go into the garden.
I sit quietly.
I see flowers and plants.
It makes me feel peaceful.
If I am very still,
I see birds, insects,
and creatures I had
not noticed before.
I can even hear them!
Nibble, crunch, chomp.
Chew, bite, slurp,
swallow, gulp.
They are all hungry!

Get ready to look and listen.
Get ready fbr fun in the quiet garden.
You can make your own quiet garden, too!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 1—An artful introduction to nature, stillness, and the power of observation. A wide-eyed boy enters a garden replete with fluttering butterflies, birds, and blooming trees, all rich with color. "I sit quietly. If I am very still, I see more." He also hears sounds: "chirp, squeak, crunch." A robin eats red berries from a bush, a turtle munches moss, a lizard snaps up a moth, and so on. Animals small and large question motives as each one finds its meal: "The frog hopped up and caught a gnat. Why did you do that? asked a fish. I was hungry, said the frog, and I didn't want to eat you." Learning by observing and listening to the creatures in turn, the boy finally gathers a meal of apples, berries, carrots, and more for a picnic with his friends-the myriad creatures. With spare words and a balance of line and color against white backgrounds framed with lacey branches, Aliki deftly portrays the benefits of observing nature. Back matter tells how to grow a "quiet" garden. This book is perfect for reading aloud: "The squirrel crunched on an acorn. Why did you do that? asked the spider. Ah-wa-wan-gwy, said the squirrel, crunching away."—Marian Creamer, Children's Literature Alive, Portland, OR
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From Booklist

“I love to go out in the garden,” says a young boy, who describes what he sees and hears when he sits still in his lush backyard. The quiet garden, it turns out, is teeming with life, and the boy imagines noisy conversations among the small animals he observes. After a robin nibbles berries on a bush, for example, a snail asks, “Why did you do that?” “I was hungry,” the robin replies. That question and answer becomes a rhythmic refrain, subtly introducing food-chain concepts in dialogue between pairs of animals. Finally, the boy realizes that he, too, is hungry, and after gathering vegetables and fruit, he shares a picnic with his animal friends. Young children will delight in the detailed pictures, rendered in watercolor, crayon, and ink, which contrast expansive aerial views of the garden with close-up scenes of the boy, surrounded by flowering plants and small companions. The words’ lulling repetition creates a subtle, meditative tone that reinforces the message: quiet observation can reveal an exciting, “anything-but-quiet” world. Preschool-Kindergarten. --Gillian Engberg

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 2 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books (February 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061552070
• ISBN-13: 978-0061552076
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 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: #101,731 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Aliki is the author and illustrator of more than fifty books for children that are treasured by readers all over the world. Her many well-loved titles include My Visit to the Zoo, My Visit to the Aquarium, My Visit to the Dinosaurs, Wild and Woolly Mammoths, Tabby, and Those Summers. Aliki lives near the Globe theater, in London, England.

In Her Own Words..."Aliki grew up in Philadelphia in a big Greek family where everyone was busy creating and sharing their activities. She knew from the time she was in kindergarten that she wanted to bean artist, although music was also a natural talent. She was encouraged throughout her early life by her parents and by teachers she will never forget."She graduated from the Philadelphia Collegeof Art and started a career in advertising art. After she married Franz Brandenberg, Aliki continued her career in his country, Switzerland, where they lived for three years. It was there that she wrote and illustrated her first book, The Story of William Tell, which was published in England. When they moved to New York, Aliki wrote and illustrated My Five Senses--the book that changed the direction of her career and her life.

Although she had never thought of being a writer, Aliki has been making books ever since. Children's books, she says, are a combination of two things I love: words and pictures. I also love the privacy of books--both reading them and making them. Aliki writes fiction, in which she can express her feelings, and nonfiction research books about subjects she's interested in and wants to know more about. Each book is a new challenge; each is different, she says. The subject directs the way I illustrate a book, the same way friends bring out different parts of us. The challenge is to get the words right and then to make pictures that expand and enhance their meaning.""Besides her own books, Aliki has illustrated many written by Franz Brandenberg and other authors. Her two children are also in the arts. Jason is a filmmaker and Alexa is a children's book author-illustrator. They appear in almost all of her books as cats, mice, or themselves.

Aliki loves music, theater, cinema, museums, children, her cat, Nefertiti, and working in her garden in London, where she lives. She travels frequently to the U.S., Greece, Switzerland, and other parts of the world, though most of the time she is alone in her studio with the books she is working on--and Mozart."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The watching, listening little boy and Aliki's charming illustrations encourage the young child to revel in his or her own quiet, October 10, 2009

By 

D. Fowler "Dragonfly77" (Vermont) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quiet in the Garden (Hardcover)

The garden is a beautiful place where the wide-eyed boy love to play in. There were birds, flowers, little vegetable plots, a place to read, a little fish pond with a koi fish swimming around and even a bunny hiding behind a flower pot. It was a magical place to be. If he is quiet, he can hear and see many more things.

"I am so quiet, I even hear sound around me-

chirp, squeak, crunch.

I can almost hear a butterfly flutter by.

I sit and listen."

A robin flew down to snatch berries from a bush. A snail chomp, chomped away at leaves. A butterfly flitted around the flowers. The little boy saw it all. Worms and bug squiggled along the ground and the wide-eyed squirrel crunched his nuts and saw them. The little boy was watching and listening and saw many interesting things when he was quiet in the garden. What kinds of things do you hear and see when you are quiet?

The watching, listening little boy and Aliki's charming illustrations encourage the young child to revel in his or her own quiet time. An illustrated page in the back encourages children to make their own "quiet" gardens. This is a perfect quiet/circle time book to read and discuss. Oops . . . do I hear something?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful read for little ones who are fascinated by nature, May 13, 2009

By 

Z Hayes (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Quiet in the Garden (Hardcover)

"Quiet in the Garden" is one of those soothing reads that lulls both parent and child into a quiet state of reflection. The story centers around a little boy who likes going out into the garden and observing the nature around him. The illustrations by author Aliki are gorgeous, awash in vivid colors, and portraying the garden in all its resplendent glory - there's even a little lesson on what the different animals and insects eat tucked into each picture.The last page contains some handy tips for little ones interested in cultivating their own 'quiet' garden. Recommended for preschoolers-2nd grade.

5.0 out of 5 stars quiet in the garden, July 9, 2009

By 

Doris J. Tomlinson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Quiet in the Garden (Hardcover)

this is marvelous and my 4 yr old grandson will be able to enjoy this for several more yrs!! I enjoy it and i am 69!! It is teaching him to really look around and notice things in his yard!! One of the best books!!!!

We first took this out of the library-he didn't want to take it back so i bought it for him and we returned the library copy!