The Bear's Garden

by Marcie Colleen, Alison Oliver (Illustrator)

Overview

Inspired by the true story of a community garden in Brooklyn, New York, this picture book, The Bear’s Garden, by writer Marcie Colleen and illustrator Alison Oliver, is a testament to how imagination and dedication can transform communities and create beauty for everyone in unexpected places.

A little girl sees an empty lot in a city and imagines what it can be.

She sees a place to grow,
a place to play,
and a place to love.

With the help of her stuffed bear, the girl brings her community together to create a beautiful garden.

An Imprint Book

"A well-illustrated, beautifully written tale of encouragement." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250314819
Publisher:	Imprint
Publication date:	03/24/2020
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	683,702
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	3 - 6 Years

About the Author

Marcie Colleen is the award-winning author of the Super Happy Party Bears chapter book series, and picture books Love, Triangle, and Penguinaut! While she misses living down the street from the Brooklyn Bear’s Community Garden in New York City, Marcie now lives in San Diego, California, where flowers bloom all year round. Visit her website to learn more.

Alison Oliver is the author-illustrator of picture books Moon and Sun and the Be Bold, Baby! board book series, featuring biographies of strong, inspiring women. She’s also the illustrator of thirty BabyLit board books. She lives in New York City, where she runs a design studio called Sugar.

Editorial Reviews

02/03/2020

A black girl sees “the big, bustling city” as “a place to grow, a place to play, a place to love” in this affectionate ode to a community garden. In striking illustrations that combine sharp geometric forms with expressive brushy textures, Oliver shows the girl planting a seed in a tomato can that tips off the windowsill: “One night, the girl’s imagination/ spilled onto the sidewalk,/ rolled across the street,/ and sprouted.” “A baby garden!” she exclaims, caring for its seedlings until the unlikely lot blooms into “A place to grow,// A place to play,// A place to love,” watched over by a beloved bear the child left behind. In an author’s note, Colleen shares the foundation of her fanciful tale: “The Pacific Street Brooklyn Bear’s Community Garden was founded in 1985 and named for a teddy bear that was sitting in the weeds.” Ages 3–6. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"[An] affectionate ode to a community garden...striking illustrations that combine sharp geometric forms with expressive brushy textures" — Publishers Weekly

"A simple, powerful ode to community betterment." — Booklist

"A sweet reminder of how powerful communities can be when they come together to create something beautiful." — The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"An imaginative little girl who can always see the beauty in things transforms the empty city lot across from her apartment and in turn her neighborhood." —School Library Journal

From the Publisher

03/01/2020

K-Gr 2—An unnamed, brown-skinned girl with imagination, a seedling, and a stuffed panda bear is the catalyst for a community garden in her busy neighborhood. Despite being under her stuffed panda's watchful eye, the girl's seedling tumbles from her window, rolls across the street, and sprouts in the vacant lot where it comes to rest. "A baby garden!" cries the delighted girl upon finding her errant seedling. After she lavishes it with love, water, and protection, more seedlings grow, as does the interest of her busy neighbors. When the girl goes on a trip, she leaves her panda—stuffed full of her hope and love—in charge of watching over the garden. In her absence and with the help of the whole neighborhood, her baby garden becomes a place to grow, to play, and to love, for everyone. Colleen's text captures the hope, humor, and love of the protagonist. Oliver's illustrations not only mirror the text but tell important parts of the story. She uses single- and double-page spreads and panels, and her mostly dark background palette allows her foreground characters to pop in a wonderful way. She even manages to covey the emotions of the panda with subtle changes to its eyes and mouth. VERDICT An imaginative little girl who can always see the beauty in things transforms the empty city lot across from her apartment and in turn her neighborhood. A great addition to the growing urban gardens genre, and a good general purchase.—Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH

School Library Journal

★ 2019-12-08
One little girl understands that urban spaces need tender loving care.

When a little black girl with her hair in two puffballs looks at her city street, she sees people who rarely slow down enough to imagine the possibilities of beauty around them. But she does. Faithfully including her stuffed panda, she plants a seed in a tin can. When the can falls off the windowsill and the seedling takes root in a vacant lot, she watches it grow, and then the other seedlings that spread around it. When she must leave for a while, she charges her panda with tending the plants. Upon her return, she discovers a surprising number of good things that have happened in her absence. Inspired by a true story of a stuffed bear found in what has become the Pacific Street Brooklyn Bear's Community Garden, this tale of urban renewal shows how one person with an imagination, a little dirt, and a few seeds can transform a concrete village into something beautiful. Oliver's endpapers depict maps of the garden site—the front endpapers sans garden and the rear ones featuring colorful flowers on several street corners. Throughout the illustrations, the background remains black, dark gray, or dark green, but as the garden grows, the darkness becomes less noticeable as the garden takes over the block and the blue sky appears above it.

A well-illustrated, beautifully written tale of encouragement for budding gardeners. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews