The Curious Garden

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Overview

One day, a curious boy named Liam is out exploring his drab, gray city when he comes across a struggling garden. He decides to help the plants grow, never imagining what he is starting. As time passes, the garden takes on a life of its own and spreads across the city, changing everything in its path. Bib by bit, the city is transformed, becoming a lush green world.

The Curious Garden is s magical story about a boy's dream and how the efforts of one small person can help change the world.

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More About This Book

Overview

One day, a curious boy named Liam is out exploring his drab, gray city when he comes across a struggling garden. He decides to help the plants grow, never imagining what he is starting. As time passes, the garden takes on a life of its own and spreads across the city, changing everything in its path. Bib by bit, the city is transformed, becoming a lush green world.

The Curious Garden is s magical story about a boy's dream and how the efforts of one small person can help change the world.

Editorial Reviews

Sherie Posesorski
…a quietly marvellous picture book…As all good, enduring stories are, The Curious Garden is a rich palimpsest. Echoing the themes of The Secret Garden, it is an ecological fable, a whimsical tale celebrating perseverance and creativity, and a rousing paean, encouraging every small person and every big person that they too can nurture their patch of earth into their very own vision of Eden.
—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly

Brown's (Chowder) latest is a quiet but stirring fable of urban renewal, sure to capture imaginations. In exploring his bleak city neighborhood, thoughtful Liam-in Brown's warm, almost fuzzy acrylic spreads, he looks a little like a friendly, redheaded wooden puppet-notices that some flowering plants have appeared on an old elevated railway track. He teaches himself to care for them ("The flowers nearly drowned and he had a few pruning problems, but the plants patiently waited while Liam found better ways of gardening"), and the garden responds by "growing restless. It wanted to explore." In one of several wordless spreads, Liam stands against a bright blue sky, surrounded by a thick patch of daisies. Spring brings a burst of new energy: "the tough little weeds and mosses set out first. They popped up farther and farther from the railway.... but the most surprising things that popped up were the new gardeners." In Brown's utopian vision, the urban and the pastoral mingle to joyfully harmonious effect-especially on the final pages, which show a city filled with rooftop gardens, fantastic topiaries, windmills and sparkling ponds. Ages 3-6. (Apr.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
More Reviews (4) Fewer Reviews
Children's Literature
Despite living in a dreary city with no gardens or trees, young Liam loves to walk outside, even in the rain. One morning he climbs up to explore the tracks of an unused railway. There he discovers to his surprise some plants and wildflowers. They seem to be dying, so Liam begins to tend them. Slowly the plants start to spread along the tracks. When winter snow cuts him off from the garden area, Liam lays his plans for the spring. Soon the garden begins to spread all over town. And everywhere other gardeners take up the call, until "the entire city had blossomed" years later. Acrylic and gouache scenes sometimes fill double pages while sometimes recording plant growth in vignettes. The geometric shapes of Liam's town make fine contrasts to the emerging organic growth. The gardens gradually turn the grim dullness of the story's initial image, with smoke stacks emitting clouds of black smoke, to the clear view of greenery and windmills. The end pages offer a similar contrast. Brown adds a note about the inspiration for this encouraging view of a possible greener future. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz
School Library Journal

Gr 1-3

"There once was a city without gardens or trees or greenery of any kind." Thus begins an eco-fantasy in which Liam climbs a stairway leading to abandoned railway tracks and discovers wildflowers and plants struggling to grow. Initially an inept gardener, the boy improves with time, and the garden begins to prosper. He continues his work after the winter snows, and diverse city residents of all ages join in the effort. Plants that spill over onto the letters of the title page foreshadow the glorious flowering to come. But first, readers experience, via Brown's framed acrylic and gouache spreads and vignettes, a smog-filled metropolis bereft of outdoor inhabitants except for Liam, who doggedly explores its dreary streets. Flat, stylized paintings depict the gradual greening of the city. Dark skies gradually become a strikingly blue home for birds; red buildings appear amid the gray ones; and the stark beginning endpapers transform into lush green flower-filled pages at the end. In a lengthy note, Brown explains that this fantasy is based on his real-life discovery of the defunct High Line elevated railway in New York City where he found plants growing amid the rubble. While the story lacks tension and is at times sentimental, the art is spectacular and the book might inspire children to engage in small projects to improve their own neighborhoods.-Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT

Kirkus Reviews
Liam, a curious little boy who likes to be outside, lives in a city "without gardens or trees or greenery of any kind." One day, while exploring an abandoned elevated railbed, he discovers a small patch of weeds and wildflowers. After a little bit of trial and error, Liam nurses his newfound plot into a "restless" garden that explores the length of the railway and, after a dormant winter, begins to find its way into the city below. Brown's flat, faintly retro graphics make a vigorous accompaniment to his fey text, which personifies the "curious garden" with appealing earnestness. In an author's note he describes the greening of Manhattan's abandoned Highline, which inspired this hopeful little paean to the persistence of growing things in the dreariest places. (Picture book. 3-7)
School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 3—A curious boy's discovery of a tiny garden in an otherwise gray and dismal city leads to amazing changes for him and for the whole neighborhood in this delightful tale by Peter Brown (Little Brown, 2009). While exploring, Liam finds a few plants struggling to grow on an elevated railroad track. The garden patiently endures his clumsy first attempts at becoming a gardener, and soon grows strong and restless to explore. In winter, Liam reads about gardening and plans for spring, and soon the curious plants start to spread to other parts of the grim, decaying city, causing new gardeners to "pop up" along with the flowers and trees. Brown's acrylic and gouache scenes are cleverly animated and accompanied by a lively musical track. Read-along subtitles are optional. In an interview with the author/illustrator, we learn that Brown was inspired to write this book when he accidentally discovered a lush garden growing amid industrial buildings on Manhattan's abandoned High Line. He hoped children would share his love of nature and be encouraged to find and appreciate the nature in their own neighborhoods. He demonstrates how he sketches and writes simultaneously, then uses acrylics to create the final pictures. The teacher's guide offers many ideas for discussion and related activities. The film's producers, Paul Gagne and Melissa Reilly Ellard, are winners of ALA's 2011 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video! —MaryAnn Karre, Horace Mann Elementary School, Binghamton, NY

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780316015479
  • Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
  • Publication date: 4/1/2009
  • Pages: 40
  • Sales rank: 36,505
  • Age range: 3 - 5 Years
  • Lexile: AD840L (what's this?)
  • Product dimensions: 8.90 (w) x 11.25 (h) x 0.40 (d)

Meet the Author

Peter Brown
Peter Brown

Peter Brown is a graduate of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. He grew up in Hopewell, NJ and now lives in Brooklyn, NY, where he's living his dream of drawing, writing, and getting paid to do it. Peter's Web site is www.peterbrownstudio.com.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3.5
( 26 )

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(10)

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(2)

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(6)

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(7)

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(1)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 26 Customer Reviews

  • Posted October 19, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    9780312367497 9781891830624 9780802789921 9780395311295

    Marvelous

    A wonderful, uplifting, and hopeful fable about perseverance and the difference one person (and one garden) can make in the world. Beautiful artwork and simple, lyrical prose. I especially like how the character of the garden itself is brought out in the story. Highly recommended.

    3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted February 6, 2010

    loved it

    my boys loved this!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted May 2, 2009

    I Also Recommend:

    9780316110389 9780152059446 9780316011792 9780316011808 9781582462530

    Completely Inspiring for Children of All Ages!

    Bravo Peter Brown! This book inspires children of all ages to open their eyes & hearts to the natural beauty growing in the most unexpected of places! The illustrations capture the imagination and inject humor into a very important message of loving & nuturing our Mother Earth! Makes a fantastic birthday or holiday present...pair it with a little spade, watering can & a few seed packets!
    PS-And it's printed on beautiful recycled paper!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 3, 2010

    sweet and engaging book

    i just bought this for my almost 2 year old and he loves it and so do i. hugely recommend it!

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  • Posted May 16, 2010

    Makes you want to know what kind of a "curious garden"?

    Help children and adults alike to learn to make where they live a more beautiful place to live. Teach children how to plant and grow a garden and that it can be fun and rewarding.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 11, 2010

    lovely

    This is a lovely book to introduce your child to gardening and the concept of community. The illustrations are delightful. It inspired us to search our neighborhood for "curious gardens".

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 8, 2010

    What a precious story with a great moral

    I bought this book as a gift for two of my grand children (7yrs. and 2 yrs) The oldest loved the story and could read it out loud with little difficulty. Since she is very much into being "GREEN", and caring for our Mother Earth, she found it inspirational.

    The youngest one loved the pictures and enjoyed the story as well when read to her. It is now part of the night time ritual of bedtime. They have only had the book a few weeks, but both know it by heart

    This book has actually brought out their creativity in gardening as well. Its a sweet precious story and we truly are enjoying over and over and over again

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted March 20, 2010

    Message of Renewal

    This is a great book for making earthday everyday. Wonderful story about an accidental ecologist.... who is a child.

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