Review By HOMA WOODRUM

Billie the Unicorn by Brianne Brouhard is a vividly illustrated story set in what we learn is a world where unicorns grow plants and flowers. Billie is a little blue unicorn who seems to continually long for different pastures. She tends a cornfield but ventures into the forest to learn from her cousins who show her their skills at growing sunflowers and strawberries. She wants to grow flowers like them but instead grows corn in the forest.  With encouragement, she grows a blue cornflower. Billie grows restless again upon hearing of a queen’s beautiful garden and ventures (without her cousins) off in search of it, hoping to learn more about growing flowers.

At this point the story takes a rather scary turn as the queen’s garden is tended by a miserable imprisoned unicorn who grows metal flowers at the queen’s command. Before Billie can escape, she is the new prisoner of the garden and is commanded to continue the old unicorn’s work. Her friends come to rescue her but first grow real flowers in the garden before making their escape.

I think that the idea of making any animal, even an imaginary one, a prisoner is a topic of interest to veg families. It is easy for a child to see how different the lives of the free unicorns and the imprisoned one differ. Both have the same powers but when forced to “perform” they are unhappy and fearful. The book’s message is “be yourself” and the illustrations are engaging though I do wonder where the previous unicorn in the queen’s garden ended up as Billie and her cousins live happily ever after.

Ages 5 and up.

Review By CAROLYN M. MULLIN

Capstone now has a new wonderful imprint, Heinemann-Raintree, that’s solely dedicated to publishing curriculum-driven nonfiction “that encourages inquiry and satisfies curiosity” for students in grades PreK-8. In their “Grow It Yourself!” series, children are challenged to cultivate something with a tangible result – catnip for a cat toy, tomatoes for a tomato and cheese (who says it can’t be Daiya, Follow Your Heart or even slices of Tofutti?) sandwich, pumpkins for soup, plants for a butterfly farm (why they didn’t title it a garden is beyond my comprehension!), and more.

Generally these titles are pretty veg-friendly with a few minor tweaks; e.g. – soy yogurt in place of the “natural yogurt” and agave vs. the honey called for in the Grow Your Own Smoothie text.

The text is of course age appropriate and the photography colorful and inviting. A glossary in each book ensures that young ones are expanding their vocabulary. All in all, these are a great find. I particularly enjoyed Grow Your Own Catnip Toy, but then again who couldn’t resist a book with cute kitties being silly? It made me want to plow my yard and get my hands dirty, just like the kids in the book. Good job, author John Malam, for showing kids they don’t need a so-called green thumb to just follow basic instructions and realize the fruits of their labor.

Ages 6-8.

Review By ANDREA ZOLLMAN

With a story reminiscent of Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax and Bill Peet’s The Wump World, Uno’s Garden  features the vivid illustrations of Graeme Base (Animalia) and a story of  how plants, animals and humans can either live in harmony or not, depending on the choices those humans make.

While hiking one day, elf-like Uno discovers a forest, where he decides to build his home. The forest is filled with animals from Base’s imagination: winged “moopaloops;” bunny-faced “puddlebuts;” and a “snortlepig.” It is a wondrous forest, and other people join Uno. Soon the settlement grows into a village. While the number of buildings and people increase, the number of animals and plants decrease. The village becomes a town, and tourists descend upon it. Yet, “Uno kept working in his garden.” A train, spewing smoke and ash into the air, whizzes around the now polluted, sprawling city. Smokestacks, resembling long bottlenecks, release smoke into the air. Only a few animals remain, including two “pricklebacks,” green, snail-like animals with lumpy conical shells on their backs.

Eventually, the citizens of this crowded, polluted city abandon it: all except Uno, who tends his garden in an alley surrounded by towering, empty buildings. Uno’s children and grandchildren record the resurgence of plants and animals and build structures that blend into the forest rather than destroy it.  At the book’s end, a fold-out page reveals a forest teeming with life and a city that is in perfect balance with it.

Throughout the book, Base notes at the top of each two-page spread how many animals and plants survive in comparison to the number of buildings that populate the forest. This book provides younger children with an introduction to the ideas of conservation and sustainability, and they and their parents will appreciate the story’s simplicity as well as the rich illustrations that accompany it.

Ages 4 to 8.

Review By JENNIFER GANNETT

If you are looking for a pleasing picture book about the ins and outs of composting, Garbage Helps Our Garden Grow: A Compost Story is a great choice.  This book is not long but it covers all of the basics of composting in an engaging way that makes the process seem very accessible and appealing to children.

The text is enhanced by bright photographs of scenes around compost bins and gardens as well as depictions of engrossed and happy children and adults working outdoors.  The end of the book features some information for adults who may be interested in learning more about implementing a composting system themselves!

Ages 3-7.

My daughter and I enjoyed reading about Mr. McGreely’s gardening enthusiasm and battle with the bunnies over his vegetables. G. Brian Karas (whom I recognized from My Crayons Talk and Baby Bug) creates cute little bunnies to accompany Candace Fleming’s cute bunny sounds as the moochers munch away on Mr. McGreely’s hard earned harvest. Kids like my four-year-old will find it fun to make the repetitive sounds the bunnies make as they sneak into the garden (“tippy-tippy-tippy, pat!”) and muncha! muncha! muncha!way.

McGreely’s expressions illustrate the clear emotional statements “he was angry,” “he was really angry,” and “he was really, really, angry” after discovering the vegetables demolished each day. The wonderful part of the story is that McGreely expresses his anger (modeling for children that it is ok to feel angry and frustrated), but he also uses the angry energy constructively (AR folks read: safe for bunnies) to build obstacles to keep the bunnies out of his garden. They don’t work on the devious bunnies but McGreely proves a pacifist who never harms the bunnies even when he’s at his angriest. (Somehow, we’re all rooting for the bunnies even though we might have related more to McGreery and his urge to garden at the beginning).The most aggressive he gets is when he resorts to benevolent name-calling (such as “flop-ears” and “puff-tails”) and building obstacles to block the bunnies from returning to his garden. Children, AR folks, bunny-lovers, and gardeners will enjoy this cotton tale.

Ages 4-8.

Review By JENNIFER GANNETT

After visiting Catskill Animal Sanctuary some time ago and meeting a rescued turkey named Ethel and her cohort, I became enamored with turkeys in a way that I hadn’t known was possible.  They are so cool!  So when I came upon the book Too Many Turkeys, I held my breath with each page I turned.  Could it be…a positive, fun story about these birds?  YES!

When a little domesticated poult wanders onto Fred and Belle’s small farm, Fred has a compassionate reaction to Belle’s suggestion that they run him off.  Fred names him Buford and builds him a house and yard.  Belle’s fears that Buford will ruin her garden turn out to be unfounded, and in fact, Buford’s manure causes Belle’s flowers, vegetables and berries to thrive.  Curious neighbors take note and ask Belle about her secret but she remains evasive.

Belle goes out of town, and immediately wild turkeys appear on the farm.  Initially, there are only a few, but more and more appear.  Fred attempts to relocate them, but they find their way back to the farm, and invite their friends.  The noise causes neighbors to investigate the ruckus and Fred decides that if the neighbors can help him somehow get the turkeys off of his property (thereby preventing them from ruining Belle’s gardens), he will reveal Belle’s secret.  They agree to help him, and he does indeed disclose: it’s turkey poop mixed with other compost.  He also points out that there are other benefits to having turkeys around, such as the fact that they eat insects.  The neighbors line up to take a turkey home and weeks later, the neighborhood looks prettier than ever. When Belle returns, she asks Fred if he has let anyone in on her secret.  He tells a white lie by omission, but she is too busy enjoying the improvements to the neighborhood to press him.

This is a worthwhile story of animals and humans living together harmoniously.  There is never any discussion of eating the birds. In fact, Fred and Belle show that turkeys can be valued for who they are, not as a food commodity (with benefits that accrue to gardeners, as well)– a very unusual viewpoint at this point in our society.  Fred is a great model of being open-minded and -hearted as well a creative problem solver.  At no point does he threaten violence toward the wild turkeys who invade his land (though he does take them on wild ride at one point).  The fabulous illustrations are a large part of what make this lively tale so fun.  One of my favorite pictures is of Fred and Buford, sharing the bed while Belle is away.

Too Many Turkeys is a great book for ages 5 and up.

Review By JESSICA ALMY

Liz Garton Scanlon and Marla Frazee teamed up to create All the World, a book so beautiful that it received the Caldecott Honor last year. (The Caldecott Medal went to The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney.)

Capturing the magic of everyday moments , this book boasts several scenes that vegetarian and vegan families will enjoy. Among my favorite are the depiction of play along the shore (“A moat to dig, a shell to keep/ All the world is wide and deep”) and a bustling farmer’s market (“Tomato blossom, fruit so red/ All the world’s a garden bed”).  I also appreciate the diversity of families portrayed — or I should say family, as one of the delightful surprises is discovering that all of the characters are related (“Nanas, papas, cousins, kin/ Piano, harp and violin”).

There’s a serenity to both the words and illustrations that is reassuring and makes this an ideal bedtime book. Vegan parents, however, should be aware that the book portrays both honey production for human consumption and the use of butter in cooking.

Ages 3-7.

Review By HUYEN MACMICHAEL

This is such a beautiful and peaceful tale that it was a joy to read. I absolutely adore the soft and colorful watercolors, the well-rounded characters with such expressive faces and bodies, and the gentle humor infused throughout the story. My daughter was not immune to the magic of the story either since we read it multiple times and the images are so pleasing to the eye. It is no surprise that it is a Bccb Blue Ribbon Picture Book Awards book.

Elsie is a farmer with two companion cats Fluff and Gordo. Her specialty and passion is her cabbages which she had been growing and selling for years. One morning when she and her cats go to pick cabbages, they discover only stumps and “for a moment, she lost control.” The way Erika Oller paints Elsie’s reaction is funny yet compelling because we can all empathize with having lost something meaningful to us. But Elsie courageously puts herself back together because “she would not cry over shredded cabbages,” and comes up with a plan to find out what happened to her cabbages. She parks herself in the cold field to watch for the culprit but falls asleep before catching them. When she wakes, “she felt defeated” and  drags herself to bed. As she sleeps, Fluff and Gordo perform their secret good deeds and help figure out the mystery (there are hints in the illustrations throughout the story). When Elsie wakes, she decides to replant the cabbages and also make a batch of cabbage soup and is surprised to find all the soup ingredients sitting on her doorstep. When it’s time to eat, she has unexpected visitors and invites them to eat and stay with her. One of my favorite illustrations in this story is the image of “with bellies full, everyone fell fast asleep.” The visitors assist with the replanting and Elsie’s garden improves so that there are plenty of cabbages to go around.

I found it to be a very veg-friendly tale with Fluff and Gordo as well as Elsie demonstrating such compassion and generosity that it warms the reader. I even enjoyed Oller’s dedication to her daughter, “who has taught me how to eat my vegetables.” The only criticism of the book is that Elsie serves her cats warm milk, which in reality is not good for cats (vegetarian parents should note there is mention that the cats decide to eat fish instead of cabbage soup).

I highly recommend this heart-warming story where the culprits are not captured and punished yet they do make reparation and the main character Elsie demonstrates her strength in taking a negative event and moving beyond it to make bigger cabbages and a better life, as well as new friends.

Ages 4-8.

Review By CAROLYN M. MULLIN

When it’s Indian Night in our household, I’m usually the sous chef prepping all the fruits and veggies for our masalas, curries and chutneys. And when these three titles, Fruits of India, Vegetables of India, and Flowers of India, made their way into my hands, I was not only giddily surprised, but remarked, “Well, it’s about time!”  Rarely do baby board books covering the subject of produce broach the exotic, much less in a picturesque format. Photographers Helmut Wolf (Flowers) and Jill Hartley (Vegetables, Fruits) do a remarkable  job capturing their subject matter and providing an attractive array of colors, textures, and shapes for little ones to inspect and appreciate.

While babies may recognize some produce and flowers (watermelon, grapes, carrots, corn, roses), they’ll delight in the unusual (bittergourd, drumstick, ixora, sapota, muskmelon).  I only have one “I wish they would have…” So that there’d be a stronger literary component, I wish the authors had included the written names of each plant on its corresponding page. They opted, however, to include them at the end of the publications – without page numbers – which does it make it difficult to reference them.  All in all, this is a great mini series for parents and caretakers interested in igniting a flare for foreign fare in their little ones.

For babies and preschoolers.

Review By

A Garden for Pig is a new title that encourages kids to grow and eat their veggies. Based on a true story, in which a pig breaks into a neighboring garden, eats some squash, and “delivers” the seeds to his own pen, Kathryn Thurman’s picture book is sure to get some laughs.

The mischievous character Pig lives on an apple orchard and longs for vegetables. He just can’t help himself from breaking into a neighbor’s vegetable garden and devouring all the beautiful things that are growing there.  Vegetarian and vegan parents will enjoy pointing out many of the garden vegetables which are staples of a plant-based diet.

While Pig might be upset about the menu choices he’s offered day after day, I for one found the selections to be tantalizing. I would pretty much be happy eating homemade apple sauce every meal this time of year, so if Pig doesn’t want his apple flambe, he can send it to me! Your kids might even request fruit-based desserts when they finish this book.

Observant readers will delight in Lindsay Ward’s multimedia illustrations, which incorporate apple recipes, and those readers with a bit of land of their own will appreciate Thurman’s organic gardening tips at the back of the book. (The only mention of animal products occurs when Thurman says that along with many other items, eggs can be made into compost.)

Ages 3-7.