And the Good Brown Earth

by Kathy Henderson, Kathy Henderson (Illustrator)

Overview

"This treasure of a book highlights the bonds between the generations and between gardeners and the earth." — School Library Journal

Gram and Joe love to spend time together taking care of the vegetable patch, but it takes a lot of patience. There’s digging time, planting time, weeding time, watering time, even thinking time. Meanwhile, the seasons change, and while Gram does things her way, Joe does things his way. But come harvest, each will find wondrous surprises, thanks to the benevolence of the good brown earth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763638412
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	03/11/2008
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	10.19(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.19(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Kathy Henderson has written several award-winning books, most recently THE STORM, which she also illustrated, and THE BABY DANCES. Of AND THE GOOD BROWN EARTH, she says, "Isn’t it amazing what can happen when you just put a seed in the earth? This story just came springing up out of the ground like the plants in our family vegetable plot, and the seed it took was my youngest child showing me how to do things her way." As well as writing and illustrating, Kathy Henderson works as an artist and printmaker. She has a strong interest in music and sound and has written a number of programs for radio. She lives in North London and has three children.

Editorial Reviews

As a year turns, Gran and little Joe tend adjacent garden patches-Gran digging, planting careful rows, and methodically tending to business, Joe exuberantly broadcasting his seeds, fooling around with the hose, pulling whatever catches his eye. The passage of time, marked not by months or conventional seasons, but by Gram-designated stretches of thinking, planting, weeding, watering, and resting while "the good brown earth" gets on "with doing what the good brown earth does best," culminates at last in a richly satisfying gathering of berries, vegetables, and one gigantic pumpkin from Gran's tidy garden and delighted Joe's "higglety-pigglety, tangly, FANTASTIC" jungle. Henderson depicts the two gardeners amid pale, impressionistic, increasingly lush plantings, framed by tall grasses and a curvy apple tree; the effect is both intimate and visually lyrical. However Gram and Joe may differ in their methods, their shared pleasure in the bounteous results comes through clearly. (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews