Synopsis
Provides information and advice on choosing flowers, preparing a place for them to grow, and then planting and caring for them.
Elizabeth Young - Children's Literature
Whether you are planning a flower garden for a hobby or as part of a business, there is plenty of helpful information between the covers of this book in the Checkerboard Science Library "Gardening" series. Having most of the text on one page, with glorious photographs or illustrations on the facing one, make this as attractive as it is informative. Though intended for a juvenile audience, there is something here for everyone. From spelling one's name with flowers to explaining the difference between an annual and a perennial to a mention of pest control little goes unanswered. What is also nice is that the books assumes no knowledge or experience of planting and presents clear step-by-step instruction for every step of the way. For use as a teaching tool, students are presented with unfamiliar words in bold type. Perhaps potential vocabulary words for the week? Meshing this with a life sciences unit would be very obvious and a fun assignment or experiment to work on first hand. While the book infers through the illustrations that gardening is an individual endeavor, it fails to mention gardening can also be a fun class project or a team effort. Hopefully, when readers are instructed to ask an adult about finding underground utility lines or about fertilizing, the adult will also inform them they don't have to do it all by themselves, unless they want to. 2002, ABDO,
Editorials
Children's Literature
Whether you are planning a flower garden for a hobby or as part of a business, there is plenty of helpful information between the covers of this book in the Checkerboard Science Library "Gardening" series. Having most of the text on one page, with glorious photographs or illustrations on the facing one, make this as attractive as it is informative. Though intended for a juvenile audience, there is something here for everyone. From spelling one's name with flowers to explaining the difference between an annual and a perennial to a mention of pest control—little goes unanswered. What is also nice is that the books assumes no knowledge or experience of planting and presents clear step-by-step instruction for every step of the way. For use as a teaching tool, students are presented with unfamiliar words in bold type. Perhaps potential vocabulary words for the week? Meshing this with a life sciences unit would be very obvious and a fun assignment or experiment to work on first hand. While the book infers through the illustrations that gardening is an individual endeavor, it fails to mention gardening can also be a fun class project or a team effort. Hopefully, when readers are instructed to ask an adult about finding underground utility lines or about fertilizing, the adult will also inform them they don't have to do it all by themselves, unless they want to. 2002, ABDO,— Elizabeth Young