First Peas to the Table: How Thomas Jefferson Inspired a School Garden

by Susan Grigsby, Nicole Tadgell (Illustrator)

Overview

Maya loves contests, so she is excited when her teacher announces they will plant a school garden like Thomas Jefferson's garden at Monticello—and they’ll have a "First Peas to the Table" contest, just like Jefferson and his neighbors had each spring. Maya plants her pea seeds with a secret head start—found in Jefferson’s Garden Book—and keeps careful notes in her garden journal. But her friend Shakayla has plans of her own for the contest.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807524527
Publisher:	Whitman, Albert & Company
Publication date:	03/01/2012
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.90(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD690L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Susan Grigsby is a children's book author. She lives in Missouri with her husband.

Nicole Tadgell is the award-winning illustrator of more than twenty picture books. When she's not drawing, Nicole enjoys practicing Tai Chi and watching Doctor Who.

Editorial Reviews

Best Children's Books of the Year 2013, Bank Street College
2013 Growing Good Kids - Excellence in Children's Literature Award
2013-2014 Macy's Multicultural Collection of Children's Literature
2012 Children's Agriculture Book of the Year, Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation
2016 Agriculture Book of the Year, American Farm Bureau Foundation

"This beautifully illustrated story has a mixture of both fiction and facts about the life cycle of peas…Teachers will find a multitude of ways to use this book and this team's In the Garden with Dr. Carver."—School Library Journal

"The first-person narrative relates events and Maya's changing perspective in a believably childlike voice, while the pencil-and-watercolor illustrations capture the story's tone as well as the characters' emotions."—Booklist

"History, science and a guidance lesson all rolled into one, this could surely be the spark for many a school garden."—Kirkus Reviews

"This picture book seamlessly meshes together a little science, a little history, and a strong storyline."—Library Media Connection

From the Publisher

Gr 1–3—Shakayla and Maya learn that this year's class garden project will be a contest to see who can plant peas and bring in the first bowl of shelled peas. The contest originated with Thomas Jefferson among his fellow Virginia farmers, and both girls have great plans to win the competition. This beautifully illustrated story has a mixture of both fiction and facts about the life cycle of peas. Readers learn how the growing process has not really changed since Jefferson's day. Vivid watercolor artwork documents it, beginning with packets of seed and proceeding to planting, watering, staking, and the crowning of the contest winner. The vibrant front and back pages summarize the progress, and an afterword tells more about Jefferson's interest in agriculture. Teachers will find a multitude of ways to use this book and this team's In the Garden with Dr. Carver (Albert Whitman, 2010).—Janene Corbin, Rosebank Elementary School, Nashville, TN

School Library Journal

When Ms. Garcia's students emulate Thomas Jefferson and his "first peas to the table" contest, will it bring out the best or the worst in two friends? With Jefferson's garden as a model for their own class plot, Ms. Garcia's students start learning about his agricultural experiments as they prepare to participate in their own contest. Begun by Jefferson and his friends, the neighborly challenge allowed the winner to present his bowl of peas at a dinner. Twenty seeds and a small pot allow the students to get a head start on their gardening at home. Meanwhile, at school, they make garden journals, learn about composting and divide their garden up into three sections--roots, fruits and leaves. Narrator Maya and her friend Shakayla take the competition especially seriously, but the two have very different ideas and methods for growing their peas. Grigsby's narrative flows well and strikes a good balance among Maya's account, pea/gardening facts, the scientific method and a history lesson. Tadgell's watercolors support this, using both full-page spreads and smaller, inset illustrations of the racially diverse students and their garden, as well as some from Jefferson's day. The pea vines are appropriately twisty, while the pea blossoms exhibit their trademark paper-like texture. History, science and a guidance lesson all rolled into one, this could surely be the spark for many a school garden. (Picture book. 6-10)

Kirkus Reviews