My Garden
by Kevin Henkes
Greenwillow Books
2010
Henkes' newest offering is in the same style as Old Bear and A Good Day, which in turn seemed to build on the black and white style of his Caldecott-winning Kitten's First Full Moon. Lots of soft, sunny pastels of green, pink and purple, outlined in thick muted blue lines dominate this springtime story. After spending the day in the garden with her mother, a little girl begins to imagine a fantasy garden. In her ideal world, "flowers could change color just by thinking about it." She also dreams of tomatoes as big as beach balls and flowers which grow back the instant you pick them. This isn't explicitly an Easter story, but she does wish for chocolate rabbits (instead of the pesky nibblers of her real garden) and bushes of jellybeans. When the girl gets ready to go inside for the night, she acknowledges that her dream garden probably couldn't really exist, but she does go ahead and plant a seashell... just in case. The author's sly wink of an ending shows a cutaway view with the shell growing roots.
Henkes fans will not be disappointed with My Garden. This book is sure to be a staple in children's book collections for many years to come.
I borrowed a copy of this book.
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