After a few months of cozying up with hot chocolate and blankets, it’s right around this time of year when cabin fever sets in. Adults and kids alike start to get restless in February. Then, March and its mercurial moods drag us up and down a weather roller coaster. One day it’s warm and sunny, and the next, there’s a sudden snow squall. Hang on for the ride with your family and these three beautiful reads, which will remind you that spring is just around the corner.
Secrets of the Garden
Journey into one family’s backyard garden across the seasons with Secrets of the Garden: Food Chains and the Food Web in Our Backyard by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld. Meet Alice, whose family plants a vegetable garden each spring. They learn the basics of how plants grow, what insects eat the plants, and what birds and animals come to eat the insects. It’s the food chain in action with illustrations perfect for young children and side bars suited for adults looking for more advanced information.
The Secret Garden
Author Frances Eliza Hodgson immigrated to the US from England after her family fell on hard times in 1865. Follow her to discover the mysteries of a secret garden in England with 10-year-old Mary, who comes to live in a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors. The Secret Garden is a classic tween/teen tale of love, patience and rejuvenation.
Seedfolks
One-by-one, 13 neighbors find themselves transforming an abandoned plot of land into a beautiful, productive community garden. As you read through characters’ eyes of varying ages and backgrounds, it becomes clear the land isn’t the only thing left transformed. By the end of Seedfolks, illustrated by Judy Pederson and written by Paul Fleischman, these individuals turn one man’s trash into their treasure.
What books remind you of springtime? Share with us in the comments below!
