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Publication Date: July 1, 2001 | Age Range: 6 and up | Series: Inspiration from the Garden
A magical book of adventures and appreciations written and illustrated by the author of Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots this award-winning title was published by a small press in Colorado in 1991. The reviews say it all: A fetching primer on gardening for children. . . . Irresistible (The Smithsonian). What child, or indeed adult, would not be delighted? Lovejoy's recollections are wonderful, as are the illustrations (Victoria).
Celebrating the lore of the garden and the joy of interacting with nature, Sunflower Houses is a unique garden lover's miscellany, a collection of memories, poems, activities, garden plans, crafts, botanical riddles, stories, games, and planting projects. There are inspirations for a Floral Clock Garden, A Child's Own Rainbow, Faerie Tea Parties, and, of course, the Sunflower House. Plus, from garden lovers, stories of favorite flowers. Throughout are the artist's warm and appealing watercolors of a life in gardening remembered.
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"Even the youngest gardeners get a thrill from watching a plant grow - particularly a plant they nurtured." -- Washington Times
Garden books become repetitive variations of the same themes. But, once in a while, a book comes out that is delightfully different. -- Shane Smith, Director, Cheyenne Botanic Gardens
I have to put Sharon Lovejoy's 'Sunflower Houses.. in a category by itself. -- Copley News Service
It lit up my life and, indeed, may go on doing so for years to come. Enchanting! -- American Library Book Review
Lovejoy's award-winning Sunflower Houses... ranks as one of the finest examples of gardening literature. -- “Book Reviews” by Dr. Frances B. Shuler, Science Activities
From the Inside Flap
Remember making clover chains, hollyhock dolls, and firefly lanterns? Or hosting a faerie tea party? Remember checking the clock when the Four O'Clocks bloomed? These simple pleasures, and hundreds more, are gathered here in a magical book of inspiration from the garden.
WHAT CHILD, OR ADULT, WOULD NOT BE DELIGHTED? LOVEJOY'S RECOLLECTIONS ARE WONDERFUL, AS ARE THE ILLUSTRATIONS! (VICTORIA MAGAZINE)
For the first seven years of her life, Sharon Lovejoy was introduced to the wonders of nature by her Quaker grandmother Abigal Lovejoy, a botanist and an educator. As an adult, Sharon's passion for the natural world guided her to become an award winning nature, gardening, and children's book author and watercolor illustrator.
As a graduate with Distinction in the Field of Art from San Diego State University, Sharon successfully combined her training in art with her love of botany and natural science. She worked as a docent naturalist for the Morro Bay Museum of Natural History and for the Smithsonian Institution in the lagoons of Baja, California.
In 1982, she founded Heart's Ease Herb Shop & Gardens in Cambria, California, where she shared her love and knowledge of nature and ethnobotany with visitors for the next 15 years.
Sharon's home, business, and display gardens first captured national attention on the cover of the August 1990 issue of Country Living magazine. Since then, her home and garden creations have appeared in numerous books and magazines, and she has been a guest on countless radio and television shows from coast to coast, including NBC's Today, HGTV, and The Victory Garden on PBS.
In 1991, Interweave Press published her first book Sunflower Houses: Garden Discoveries for Children of All Ages,a recollection of the influence from her Grandmother Lovejoy and the inspiration that has introduced tens of thousands of children to the wonders of nature through gardening.
From 1993 to 2006, Sharon wrote and illustrated the award winning, regular feature column "Heart's Ease" in Country Living GARDENER magazine. She currently is the Southern California regional contributor for the popular Lowe's home improvement store "Garden Grow Along" blog and a frequent contributor to Farming magazine.
Sharon has been a consultant for the Reader's Digest Association and a children's garden design consultant at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in San Francisco, the Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College in El Cajo, California, and for EDAW, one of the world's leading landscape architectural firms (now AECON), at the Red Butte Botanical Gardens in Salt Lake City and the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. In 1996, she was chosen to design the Children's Gardening Pavilion for the highly respected Cincinnati Flower and Garden Show. She currently serves on the National Children and Youth Garden Advisory Panel of the American Horticultural Society.
As a recognized gardening expert, Sharon has lectured throughout the United States at conferences, educational symposia, museums, botanic gardens, arboreta, public and private educational institutions, and for professional trade associations and gardening organizations.
Her professional affiliations include The Authors Guild, Inc., Garden Writers Association, Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and American Horticultural Society. In 1995, Sharon served as President of the International Herb Association.
For her contributions to education, Sharon received the Key to the City of Indianapolis, Indiana, and the Gold Leaf Award from the Santa Clara Department of Education at the Kindergarten Forum in Saratoga, California. Her writings have been reprinted in educational and testing publications in English and Spanish.
Sharon Lovejoy's "Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots" has the a lot of the ideas that are in "Sunflower Houses". It's almost as if she wrote "Sunflower Houses" first, thought of better ways to illustrate and do the gardening plans, and then wrote "Roots, Shoots..." (I didn't check the publishing dates - so maybe this is true?)
I bought both of these books through Amazon, and got "Roots..." first. It's a better book, with amazing illustrations. I thought "Sunflower Houses" would be just as good but when it came I was disappointed. It is really a repeat of much of the same stuff with less illustrations, and actually a lot less ideas. Illustrations are still really nice, and if you don't have the other book, you will like this one.
How many of us take our gardens and nature for granted? I certainly do when I get caught up in day-to-day survival mode. I discovered Sunflower Houses almost a decade ago when my sisters introduced me to a store called Heart's Ease in Cambria, California, which was owned at the time by Sharon Lovejoy. It wasn't long thereafter that I invited Sharon to be my guest on television. A faerie tea party was the theme of the segment. I was captivated by Sharon's ideas and views of the garden - transforming acorn tops, leaves, walnut shells and Japanese lanterns into the perfect faerie tea party. Vivid childhood memories came flooding back to me of blowing dandelions to the wind, climbing trees, rolling on the lawn, trying to catch butterflies and playing Red Light Green Light and Mother May I.
As I thumb through this 10th reprint of Sunflower Houses, I am reminded of the magic right outside our doors. In Sharon's words, "May you always remember that the most joyous and important experiences in life are not to be bought, but grown and nurtured in our homes and gardens." Winter, spring, summer or fall, the outdoors hold grand adventures for us! -Tiffany Windsor--
Childhood is captured in this wonderful little book by Sharon Lovejoy. There are few books that make it into my "Magical Books" category, but this book by Sharon fits the bill. If you want to revisit childhood, or create a wonderful experience with your child or grandchild, this book is a must have.
If you like to garden or like to explore nature, have a child in your life you'd like to share that with, and like things that are child-like, this is a good book to have. It teaches you things like how to make clover chains and hollyhock dolls, it tells you when certain flowers bloom, like Four O'Clocks blooming at four o'clock. Or moonflowers, which bloom, big and white, in the light of the moon. The book is filled with wonderful illustrations to help you recreate magical childhood moments with your children or grandchildren.
Many adults experienced or remember those fun little things, but many of those things that we did as children are being lost, and it's amazing that a lot of kids these days have never done things like making a clover chain/necklace/bracelet. It's as if a part of childhood heritage is being lost. This is a fun book to share if, like me, you want to pass some of that heritage on to your children.
