Growing Good Kids Classics

A Place to Grow

By Stephanie Bloom
Illustrated by Kelly Murphy

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

A seed is desperate to find a place to grow in this tale with a powerful message.

Carrot Seed

By Ruth Krauss
Illustrated by Crocket Johnson

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

Despite everyone’s dire predictions, a little boy has faith in the carrot seed he plants.

Brother Eagle, Sister Sky

By Susan Jeffers

Ages 9-12

Synopsis:

A Suquamish Indian chief describes his people’s respect and love for the earth, and concern for its destruction.

Camille and the Sunflowers

By Laurence Anholt

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

Despite the derision of their neighbors, a young French boy and his family befriend the lonely painter who comes to their town and begin to admire his unusual paintings.

Clara Caterpillar

By Pamela Duncan Edwards

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

By camouflaging herself, Clara Caterpillar, who becomes a cream-colored butterfly, courageously saves Catisha the crimson-colored butterfly from a hungry crow.

Empty Pot

By Demi

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

When Ping admits that he is the only child in China unable to grow a flower from the seeds distributed by the Emperor, he is rewarded for his honesty.

How Groundhog’s Garden Grew

By Lynne Cherry

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

Squirrel teaches Little Groundhog how to plant and tend a vegetable garden.

I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato

By Lauren Child

Ages 4-6

Synopsis:

A fussy eater decides to sample the carrots after her brother convinces her that they are really orange twiglets from Jupiter.

Inch by Inch: A Garden Song

By David Mallett

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

Inch by inch, row by row, a child grows a garden with the help of the rain and the earth. Based on a popular folksong.

Lily’s Garden

By Deborah Kogan Ray

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

A young girl in Maine and her grandmother in California exchange letters and packages which reflect cycles of planting and harvesting in their different climates.

Linnea in Monet’s Garden

By Christina Bjork
Illustrated by Lena Anderson

Ages 9-12

Synopsis:

A little girl visits the home and garden of Claude Monet at Giverny, France, and learns about the artist’s paintings and his life. The illustrations include photographs of the painter and his family as well as examples of his work.

Miss Rumphius

By Barbara Cooney

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

As a child Great-aunt Alice Rumphius resolved that when she grew up she would go to faraway places, live by the sea in her old age, and do something to make the world more beautiful–and she does all those things, the last being the most difficult of all.

Mrs. Spitzer’s Garden

By Edith Pattou
Illustrated by Mary Beth Owens

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

With her sure, loving, gardener’s touch, Mrs. Spitzer nurtures the students in her classroom each year.

Oliver’s Vegetables

By Vivian French

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

While visiting his grandfather, who has a wonderful garden, Oliver learns to eat vegetables other than potatoes.

Once there was a Tree

By Natalia Romanova
Illustrated by Gennady Spirin

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

An old stump attracts many living creatures, even man, and when it is gone, a new tree attracts the same creatures, who need it for a variety of reasons.

Plantzilla

By Jerdine Nolen
Illustrated by David Catrow

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

In a series of letters a boy, his science teacher, and his parents discuss the progress of a very unusual, sometimes frightening, plant that becomes more human as the summer progresses.

Pumpkins

By Mary Lyn Ray
Illustrated by Barry Root

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

A man harvests and sells a bountiful crop of pumpkins so that he will be able to preserve the field from developers.

Scarlette Beane

By Karen Wallace
Illustrated by Jon Berkley

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

When family members give five-year-old Scarlette a garden, she succeeds in growing gigantic vegetables and creating something wonderful.

Sunflower House

By Eve Bunting
Illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

A young boy creates a summer playhouse by planting sunflowers and saves the seeds to make another house the next year.

Sunflower Sal

By Janet S. Anderson
Illustrated by Elizabeth Johns

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

Sal, a very big girl, cannot sew a quilt like Gran’s no matter how hard she tries, but eventually she finds that her talents lie elsewhere.

The Gardener

By Sarah Stewart
Illustrated by David Small

Ages 9-12

Synopsis:

A series of letters relating what happens when, after her father loses his job, Lydia Grace goes to live with her Uncle Jim in the city but takes her love for gardening with her.

The Gazebo

By Ethel Pochocki
Illustrated by Mary Beth Owens

Ages 9-12

Synopsis:

The story of young elegant girl and her wandering around the world through the pages of a book about found in her father’s library..

The Giving Tree

By Shel Silverstein

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

A young boy grows to manhood and old age experiencing the love and generosity of a tree which gives to him without thought of return.

The Great Kapok Tree

By Lynne Cherry

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

The many different animals that live in a great kapok tree in the Brazilian rainforest try to convince a man with an ax of the importance of not cutting down their home.

The Leaf Men

By illiam Joyce

Ages 9-12

Synopsis:

When an old woman gets sick and her garden begins to die, the doodle bugs call on the Leaf Men to make things right again.

The Lorax

By Dr. Seuss

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

The Once-ler describes the results of the local pollution problem.

The Lotus Seed

By Sherry Garland
Illustrated by Tatusuro Kiuchi

Ages 9-12

Synopsis:

A story of hope and epiphany and the importance of family heritage. A young Vietnamese girl takes a lotus seed from the Imperial Garden. Years later, her grandson plants it in his garden–where it blooms again

The Secret Garden

By Frances Hodgson
Illustrated by Mary Collier

Ages 9-12

Synopsis:

Ten-year-old Mary comes to live in a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors and discovers an invalid cousin and the mysteries of a locked garden.

The Shaman’s Apprentice

By Lynee Cherry
Illustrated by Mark J. Plotkin

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

Kamanya believes in the shaman’s wisdom about the healing properties of plants found in the Amazon rain forest and hopes one day to be a healer for his people.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

By Beatrix Potter

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

Peter disobeys his mother by going into Mr. McGregor’s garden and almost gets caught.

The Tin Forest

By Helen Ward
Illustrated by Wayne Anderson

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

An old man’s persistent dreams transform an old junkyard into a beautiful forest full of life.

The Tiny Seed

By Eric Carle

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

A great story for younger children describing a flowering plant’s life cycle through the seasons.

The Ugly Vegetables

By Grace Lin

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

A little girl thinks her mother’s garden is the ugliest in the neighborhood until she discovers that flowers might look and smell pretty but Chinese vegetable soup smells best of all. Includes a recipe.

Too Many Pumpkins

By Linda White
Illustrated by Megan Lloyd

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

Rebecca Estelle, an old woman who has hated pumpkins ever since she was a girl and her family had nothing else to eat, finds herself with a full crop of them.

Tops and Bottoms

By Janet Stevens

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

Hare turns his bad luck around by striking a clever deal with the rich and lazy bear down the road.

Two Old Potatoes and Me

By John Coy
Illustrated by Carolyn Fisher

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

After a young girl finds two old potatoes at her father’s house, they plant and tend them to see if they will have new potatoes in September.

Wanda’s Roses

By Pat Brisson
Illustrated by Maryann Cocca-Leffler

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

When Wanda discovers a thornbush growing in an empty lot, she’s sure it’s a rosebush all ready to bloom. Wanda clears away the trash and waters it every day. A warmhearted story and vibrant illustrations about a child’s simple faith.

Weslandia

By Paul Fleischman
Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

Wesley’s garden produces a crop of huge, strange plants which provide him with clothing, shelter, food, and drink, thus helping him create his own civilization and changing his life.

Whose Garden is it?

By Mary Ann Hoberman

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

When Mrs. McGee walks through a garden wondering whose it is, all of the plants and animals as well as the sun and the gardener claim it as their own.

Wild Child

By Lynn Plourde
Illustrated by Greg Couch

Ages 4-8

Synopsis:

Mother Earth attempts to put her wild child, Autumn, to bed.