Review by Booklist Review
In the spring, Alice's family plants their backyard garden and waits for signs of life. Over the months that follow, they watch each stage of the plants' growth and the animals that arrive. From potato bugs and grasshoppers to rabbits and mice to robins and eagles, many critters comes to the garden looking for something to eat, and together with the family, their cat, and their chickens, they form a food web. Written from Alice's point of view, the main text is conversational and informative. From time to time, the rooster and chicken chime in with information and explanations, delivered in cartoon-style text balloons and on illustrated signs and posters. Equally effective with the book's factual elements and its more fanciful ones, Lamont's beguiling pen-and-watercolor illustrations capture the amiable tone of the narrative as well as the burgeoning growth of the garden. A natural for young gardeners, this picture book is also an appealing addition to classroom units on food chains.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
As Alice's family's vegetable garden grows, Alice learns about seeding, sowing, and the web of life. "Early in spring, Mom planted tomato and green pepper seeds in small pots. She kept them warm indoors by a sunny window. Now her seedlings are ready to go in the garden," she explains. She converses with her family members via dialogue balloons ("Look at this shiny bug!"), while two highly knowledgeable chickens, Maisy and Daisy, explain concepts like photosynthesis, composting, and food chains. Lamont's pen-and-watercolor art is filled with humorous, cozy, and informative details. This intimate portrait of a single garden points to how all ecosystems are connected. Ages 5-up. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-4-Alice explains how she and her family plant, tend, and harvest vegetables in their large backyard garden. She and her brother wait impatiently for the first sprouts to appear and watch the seedlings mature. Soon Alice realizes that humans aren't the only ones ready to enjoy the crops. Rabbits, mice, and insects also eat plants, but sometimes they end up as food for other animals. Maisy and Daisy, the family's chickens, use visual aids to identify various food chains in the garden and show how they contribute to a backyard food web. Zoehfeld stresses the role of plants as the first link in food chains and explains the special role worms play in the continuing cycle. Her clear, conversational style conveys valuable information without overwhelming readers. Lamont's cheerful watercolor illustrations provide additional details on topics such as seedling identification and edible parts of plants. The depictions of the growing crops and the interactions of family members with one another and their garden exude positive energy. The conversations of all of the characters, including the chickens, are encapsulated in speech balloons. The book will raise readers' awareness of backyard food chains and encourage some students to try gardening themselves.-Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Alice and her family have a wonderful plot of land upon which they grow edible plants, raise chickens, and enjoy their many interactions with the wide variety of living things in their backyard ecosystem. Changes that occur during the garden growing season are attractively portrayed in Lamont's cheery illustrations, where even the bugs and dirt are irresistibly appealing. Also included is scientific information about such topics as composting, plant life cycles, food chains and food webs, and nutrition. The anthropomorphized chickens, it seems, are quite science-savvy, as their direct addresses to readers throughout the text explain the underlying facts. Particularly effective is the careful building of the concept of the food web from initial discussions of what eats what to full consideration of interdependent food relationships. danielle j. ford From HORN BOOK, Copyright The Horn Book, used with permission.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
(Informational picture book. 4-9)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
