Our Favorite Kids' Fiction Books

These selections from our shelves just might inspire imaginations, keen observations, and garden projects. All are currently in print, so check your local library or bookseller, or follow our links to Amazon.com.

For Ages 4 to 8

City Green
by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan
Marcy watches as an abandoned building is torn down. She is saddened by the empty space, and by her neighbor's bitterness over the loss of his old home. In the spring, Marcy begins a quest to transform the ugly, littered lot. By summertime both the sunflowers and a new friendship are flourishing. The last page explains how to start a neighborhood community garden.

Cucumber Soup
by Vickie Leigh Krudwig
All the insects in the garden, from ten little black ants down to one tiny flea, get involved in moving a fallen cucumber. Don’t miss the delicious recipe for cucumber soup and factual information about insects.

The Maybe Garden
by Kimberly Burke-Weiner
A charming story in which a little girl envisions a garden of her dreams. It is nothing like the immaculate garden her mother enjoys. It offers a gentle treatment of important themes about individual identify and the creative aspect of planning a garden.

Sunflower Sal
by Janet S. Anderson
Sal longs to make a quilt but she feels clumsy, and her hands just can't sew those tiny stitches. She finds solace -- and success -- in growing sunflowers, hundreds of them throughout her village, lining roads and fields.

Miss Rumphius
by Barbara Cooney
A girl nods when her grandfather tells her that in order to live a good life, she must make the world a more beautiful place. It's not until she's an old woman that she understands. She spends the rest of her days blanketing the countryside with lupines.

The Tenth Good Thing
About Barney
by Judith Viorst
A small boy describes his beloved cat Barney's death, cries, and delivers the funeral oration: nine good things about Barney. The tenth is that he will nourish the flowers in the garden in which he is buried.

Other Children's Classics to Consider
Allison's Zinnia by Anita Lobel
Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert
Linnea in Monet's Garden by Christina Bjork
Linnea's Windowsill Garden by Christina Bjork
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert


For Ages 9 to 12

Seedfolks
by Paul Fleischman
One by one, 13 people of varying ages and ethnic backgrounds transform a trash-filled inner-city lot into a productive and beautiful garden. In doing so, the gardeners are themselves transformed. (Parents and teachers: this book contains realistic, mature themes. Please read and decide if it is appropriate for your child or class.)

Where the Lilies Bloom
by Vera and Bill Cleaver
This is a story of a family of children who, after their father's death, take up gathering and selling medicinal herbs to pharmacies. They meet many challenges in the harshness of the Smoky Mountains.

My Side of the Mountain
by Jean Craighead George
A young boy runs away to the mountains where he spends a year living on wild plants and learning about wilderness, and himself. A coming-of-age novel that can inspire an appreciation of nature and even an interest in edible plants.