The Curious Garden

The Curious Garden is written by Peter Brown. This book was published in 2009 by the LIttle, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Lexile Level: 4D840L      Ages: 4-7

Summary:

     The Curious Garden revolves around a young redheaded boy named Liam. Liam loves to spend time outside and one day while wandering in the gray industrialized city he comes across a staircase leading to an abandoned railway. Up the stairs Liam notices a patch of vegetation that is struggling to survive. Even though Liam has little experience caring for living things he decides to do what he can to care for these plants. Liam brings supplies (shears and a bucket of water) to nurture the garden. Winter comes around and interrupts Liam's progress on the garden. The following spring, Liam continues to help the expanding garden explore its way through the city as it grows in old places and forgotten belongings. Soon enough members of the community emerge building blankets of greenery on roofs of buildings and along the streets. This once gray and industrialized city has been transformed into a healthy environment.  Many years later, Liam, now with his own family, is depicted tending to that first patch of garden that started the revolution.

Evaluation:

    This is a book that offers a variety of learning opportunities. The book can be used to show the gradual growth of a garden. The garden begins with a young boy and ends when the young boy has grown up and had children. I find this book to be suitable for younger and older students because it portrays the message and characters accurately.
     The only issue from the book is that the town the story was based on was completely industrialized and by the end of the story none of the buildings or factories existed because they were covered in garden. This is not something that could realistically occur, but the message, characters, and theme made the story believable.
      Based on Donna Norton, Peter Brown shows the theme of change or making a difference. Brown's story is based on a young boy who loves the outdoors makes the difference.  The need to appreciate and care for the plant world around us transcends race, gender and culture.

Illustrations and Elements:

      Brown’s cheerful protagonist and the vibrancy of his landscapes made this a meaningful story. These illustrations gave an excellent display of a city's progression from industrialization to a bright vibrant landscape. The wordless two page spread situated in the middle of the book shows Liam staring out at a view of factories and smokestacks, with the slow spreading greenery and flowers trailing behind him.  Liam is standing on the building looking at great change, taking in and acknowledging the past before the landscape before him transforms into a healthy safe environment. Brown made this an interactive story by including Liam, the redheaded boy, on each page for students to search for among the changes to the environment.

1. Setting: The story takes place in the city in which Liam lives.  In the book he is all around the city planting gardens. 
2. Theme: Making a difference in the community or larger the world.
3. Style: The author uses great word choice because he uses words that children do not hear on a daily basis (drizzy, toll, and restless). The author uses short paragraphs and sometimes uses compounded sentences.

In the Classroom:

      The Curious Garden could be used in two mini lessons to provide support to a larger lesson. As the title suggests Brown's book focuses on curiosity. With this book students will be able to state one thing they are curious about related to The Curious Garden or the garden it is based on.The focus of the lesson would be to teach students the definition of curiosity and have students be able to apply the definition of curiosity to their own lives. The world is full of interesting ideas and experiences for children to explore. Being curious helps them learn more about the world around and can hep them learn more in school.

     The second lesson this book could be used for is the understanding of sustainability and the protection of nature. Give students the opportunity to design a rooftop garden for a building in their area. This lesson could go further than science by having students calculate the perimeter (if the students are old enough) of the area in mind.  Challenge students to research the advantages and obstacles to consider when converting roof space to green space. This book offers information to students that keeping the world green and clean is better than an industrialized gray sky.


Brown, P. (2009). The curious garden. New York: Little, Brown and Co.