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All That Grows
From Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winner Jack Wong, a story of a boy who discovers that the more he learns, the more there is to know!
On their neighborhood walks together, a boy learns from his older sister all about the plants they see — magnolias that smell like lemon cake, creeping weeds that used to be planted for decoration, and even how dandelion greens can be eaten with spaghetti! But what makes a plant a flower, vegetable or weed, anyway? How can his sister tell, and how does she know so much?
The boy’s head spins as he realizes how vast the universe is and how much there is to learn … until he resolves to let his knowledge grow in its own way and time, just like the mysterious plants he has decided to nurture in the garden.
Award-winning creator Jack Wong brings us a delightful, nuanced story about cultivating patience and letting knowledge grow.
Key Text Features
dialogue
illustrations
Correlates to the Common Core States Standards in English Language
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2
Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.
On their neighborhood walks together, a boy learns from his older sister all about the plants they see — magnolias that smell like lemon cake, creeping weeds that used to be planted for decoration, and even how dandelion greens can be eaten with spaghetti! But what makes a plant a flower, vegetable or weed, anyway? How can his sister tell, and how does she know so much?
The boy’s head spins as he realizes how vast the universe is and how much there is to learn … until he resolves to let his knowledge grow in its own way and time, just like the mysterious plants he has decided to nurture in the garden.
Award-winning creator Jack Wong brings us a delightful, nuanced story about cultivating patience and letting knowledge grow.
Key Text Features
dialogue
illustrations
Correlates to the Common Core States Standards in English Language
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2
Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.
33 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 5, 2024
88 people want to read
About the author
Jack Wong
3 books26 followersJack Wong (黃雋喬) is the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award-winning author/illustrator of When You Can Swim (Scholastic), as well as the forthcoming picture books The Words We Share (Annick Press, Fall 2023), and All That Grows (Groundwood Books, Spring 2024).
Wong was born in Hong Kong and raised in Vancouver. In 2010, he left behind a life as a bridge engineer to pursue his Bachelor of Fine Arts at NSCAD University (Kjipuktuk / Halifax, Canada), where he now lives with his wife and two cats and works as a children’s author/illustrator.
A self-declared actual Jack-of-all-trades, he has also tried his hand at bookkeeping, teaching art, managing a psychology research lab, and running his own bicycle repair shop, just to name a few—a real education for creating children’s books, if you ask him! The books that Jack writes and illustrates are indelibly marked by his hodgepodge journey, as well as by a first-generation Asian Canadian experience, transposed upon the small-city living, natural beauty, and deeply rooted storytelling traditions of the Maritime east coast. He seeks to share all of this with young readers, so that they may embrace the unique amalgams of experiences that make up their own lives.
Jack is represented by Wendi Gu at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.
Wong was born in Hong Kong and raised in Vancouver. In 2010, he left behind a life as a bridge engineer to pursue his Bachelor of Fine Arts at NSCAD University (Kjipuktuk / Halifax, Canada), where he now lives with his wife and two cats and works as a children’s author/illustrator.
A self-declared actual Jack-of-all-trades, he has also tried his hand at bookkeeping, teaching art, managing a psychology research lab, and running his own bicycle repair shop, just to name a few—a real education for creating children’s books, if you ask him! The books that Jack writes and illustrates are indelibly marked by his hodgepodge journey, as well as by a first-generation Asian Canadian experience, transposed upon the small-city living, natural beauty, and deeply rooted storytelling traditions of the Maritime east coast. He seeks to share all of this with young readers, so that they may embrace the unique amalgams of experiences that make up their own lives.
Jack is represented by Wendi Gu at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
June 8, 2024
4 stars for the illustration- negative 2 stars for the words.
Aaargh. What a lovely awful book. If I were still teaching I might read this aloud to spark debate.
A younger sibling and his older sister (both with tan skin- dark hair and eyes) walk through an early-summer, neighborhood landscape. The older sister, a gardener, shares her knowledge of plants and the younger asks internal questions and wonders how her sister has all this knowledge.
Why do I hate such a benign story - unlike this book I will answer that question.
There is no story here and it is hard to imagine why any child reader would care. This is an example of the adult-reminiscence cadre of books. Kids ARE kids. They have as much interest in remembering childhood as they have in any story following the adult opener- ‘when I was your age…’ They don’t need elegiac memories, they are busy making their own. This doesn't feel like a kid remembering - it feels like a sentimental adult imaging themselves as a kid.
There are a million interesting questions to ask about the plants Wong features, and some even more interesting answers - but the questions we get are either so common - what makes a plant a weed? - or are left unanswered- what is this little plant with white flowers? (Chickweed). Any person reading this book who knows anything about plants will tear their hair out in rage.
All the plants discussed are non-native to the Americas (with the exception of the Ostrich Fern fiddleheads). Half are deeply problematic, extremely invasive weeds. And that is what makes the difference between a vegetable and a weed. To the saccharine- a weed is a plant in the wrong place comes the gardener's rejoinder - a weed is a plant intent on putting itself in the wrong place. Weeds spread - broccoli doesn’t. Everything wants to eat broccoli. Weeds want to eat everything.
Three plants the boy is told are weedy are sentimentalized in the text - chickweed, goutweed and Norway maples. (so is dandelion)
That little white flowered chickweed the author wonders about will set a million seeds that will beset that garden, crowding out the lettuce, long after that child is rotted in their grave. (it takes 18 years to deplete one seasons' seed-banked chickweed seeds) The sister that lets her younger sibling continue to water the chickweed, and 'maybe later' figure out what it is, will be very, very sorry.
Those that planted the goutweed on purpose rued the day. It is one of the worst invasive in a border, crowding out and killing every other plant, spreading above and below ground.
The child’s desire to have a forest of Norway maple and build a treehouse is a terrible idea that will both impoverish the landscape, crowd out more valuable native trees (useful to wildlife) destroy the sewer system buried under the yard and likely result in severe injury as Norway maple are notoriously weak trees that split at the crotch and drop branches like crazy. It’s hard to imagine a worse tree for a treehouse.
And here’s another answer to one of the book’s ponderings - we know things because of personal experience or passed-on experience from others. Reality exists and has been observed by humans for millennia. It’s not prejudice to dislike Norway maple, it is a rational bias. The text’s clear preference for internalized pondering over externalized research reveals both a startling ignorance of plants and a substantial disrespect for generations of accumulated knowledge.
What is displayed in this book is not a desire ‘to cultivate patience and let knowledge grow’ it is the lazy arrogance of ignorance that dismisses the learned wisdom of generations.
Aaargh. What a lovely awful book. If I were still teaching I might read this aloud to spark debate.
A younger sibling and his older sister (both with tan skin- dark hair and eyes) walk through an early-summer, neighborhood landscape. The older sister, a gardener, shares her knowledge of plants and the younger asks internal questions and wonders how her sister has all this knowledge.
Why do I hate such a benign story - unlike this book I will answer that question.
There is no story here and it is hard to imagine why any child reader would care. This is an example of the adult-reminiscence cadre of books. Kids ARE kids. They have as much interest in remembering childhood as they have in any story following the adult opener- ‘when I was your age…’ They don’t need elegiac memories, they are busy making their own. This doesn't feel like a kid remembering - it feels like a sentimental adult imaging themselves as a kid.
There are a million interesting questions to ask about the plants Wong features, and some even more interesting answers - but the questions we get are either so common - what makes a plant a weed? - or are left unanswered- what is this little plant with white flowers? (Chickweed). Any person reading this book who knows anything about plants will tear their hair out in rage.
All the plants discussed are non-native to the Americas (with the exception of the Ostrich Fern fiddleheads). Half are deeply problematic, extremely invasive weeds. And that is what makes the difference between a vegetable and a weed. To the saccharine- a weed is a plant in the wrong place comes the gardener's rejoinder - a weed is a plant intent on putting itself in the wrong place. Weeds spread - broccoli doesn’t. Everything wants to eat broccoli. Weeds want to eat everything.
Three plants the boy is told are weedy are sentimentalized in the text - chickweed, goutweed and Norway maples. (so is dandelion)
That little white flowered chickweed the author wonders about will set a million seeds that will beset that garden, crowding out the lettuce, long after that child is rotted in their grave. (it takes 18 years to deplete one seasons' seed-banked chickweed seeds) The sister that lets her younger sibling continue to water the chickweed, and 'maybe later' figure out what it is, will be very, very sorry.
Those that planted the goutweed on purpose rued the day. It is one of the worst invasive in a border, crowding out and killing every other plant, spreading above and below ground.
The child’s desire to have a forest of Norway maple and build a treehouse is a terrible idea that will both impoverish the landscape, crowd out more valuable native trees (useful to wildlife) destroy the sewer system buried under the yard and likely result in severe injury as Norway maple are notoriously weak trees that split at the crotch and drop branches like crazy. It’s hard to imagine a worse tree for a treehouse.
And here’s another answer to one of the book’s ponderings - we know things because of personal experience or passed-on experience from others. Reality exists and has been observed by humans for millennia. It’s not prejudice to dislike Norway maple, it is a rational bias. The text’s clear preference for internalized pondering over externalized research reveals both a startling ignorance of plants and a substantial disrespect for generations of accumulated knowledge.
What is displayed in this book is not a desire ‘to cultivate patience and let knowledge grow’ it is the lazy arrogance of ignorance that dismisses the learned wisdom of generations.
March 5, 2024
A simply gorgeous meditation about tending to a small garden which feeds both the soul and the belly with nourishing information. I would like to live in these pages forever.
April 23, 2024
A glance at that cover will confirm my assertion, and, I hope, entice you to take as close a look at this book as this character is taking of those sprouts. Each and every page offers varied perspectives of the growing things, the tenders of those things, the ways in which we respond to the miracle of plant life, and the atmosphere surrounding this life-giving time of year. That begins with the densely lush solid green endpapers, the bursting crocus blossoms on the title page, and the sense-evoking images and language:
"Magnolias smell like lemon cake." This is the minimal but magnificent text on a double spread showing an enthralled woman sniffing a blooming magnolia blossom, welcome harbinger of true spring. Quickly readers learn of the younger gardener's admiring engagement with her nature-aware and knowledgeable older sister. Overnight changes, sun-dappled scenes, even the "chore" of weeding are depicted from fascinating angles. Wondering and "wowing" are as subtle as the tips and cautions that appear within the text that inspire, including lines like this,
"How does my sister know?", part of the minimalist text on a seemingly dark illustration with moon-dappled dabs and an open-eyed, pillow-posed face. The aspects of these various illustrations are worth study in themselves and parallel the implied challenge of this work to TAKE TIME, not just to smell the roses but to notice nature. To get our hands dirty. To ask questions of ourselves, of available resources, and of those who have had time to learn more.
"Magnolias smell like lemon cake." This is the minimal but magnificent text on a double spread showing an enthralled woman sniffing a blooming magnolia blossom, welcome harbinger of true spring. Quickly readers learn of the younger gardener's admiring engagement with her nature-aware and knowledgeable older sister. Overnight changes, sun-dappled scenes, even the "chore" of weeding are depicted from fascinating angles. Wondering and "wowing" are as subtle as the tips and cautions that appear within the text that inspire, including lines like this,
"How does my sister know?", part of the minimalist text on a seemingly dark illustration with moon-dappled dabs and an open-eyed, pillow-posed face. The aspects of these various illustrations are worth study in themselves and parallel the implied challenge of this work to TAKE TIME, not just to smell the roses but to notice nature. To get our hands dirty. To ask questions of ourselves, of available resources, and of those who have had time to learn more.
February 7, 2025
A young boy watches and asks his older sister about plants and gardening.
The boy looks at all of the changes that happens in the garden - from winter into summer - asking his sister questions about so many things he sees happening in the garden - trees leafing out, when to eat dandelion greens, why she pulls out the Norway Maple seedlings that sprout. How does she know everything about the garden?
Wong's curious young boy feels just right. He is like a sponge here, learning every little thing his mind can absorb. His sister is kind and wise, even admitting when she did not have an answer to his question.
Wong created the artwork using pastels. They are dreamy and fuzzy, as if recalling this from memory. All of the plants are easily identified - from the crocus to the tree magnolias to daffodils to dandelions. My only quibble is the illustration of the boy lying awake in bed; it is so dark that it is difficult to see him on the right side of the 2-page spread.
Another gift to gardeners-to-be. Time and patience is required to see what grows.
Recommended for PreSchool-grade 2.
The boy looks at all of the changes that happens in the garden - from winter into summer - asking his sister questions about so many things he sees happening in the garden - trees leafing out, when to eat dandelion greens, why she pulls out the Norway Maple seedlings that sprout. How does she know everything about the garden?
Wong's curious young boy feels just right. He is like a sponge here, learning every little thing his mind can absorb. His sister is kind and wise, even admitting when she did not have an answer to his question.
Wong created the artwork using pastels. They are dreamy and fuzzy, as if recalling this from memory. All of the plants are easily identified - from the crocus to the tree magnolias to daffodils to dandelions. My only quibble is the illustration of the boy lying awake in bed; it is so dark that it is difficult to see him on the right side of the 2-page spread.
Another gift to gardeners-to-be. Time and patience is required to see what grows.
Recommended for PreSchool-grade 2.
April 22, 2024
Written & illustrated by the amazing Jack Wong.
Story about gardens, nature, vegetables, weeds and all that goodness!
Heartwarming pictures and conversations on family, siblings, and the sharing of knowledge.
Love love love!
As a nature lover & gardener, this book just spoke to my heart 💚 Jack Wong’s incredible illustrations allow the simple yet beautiful story shine in its message of sharing knowledge and being curious about the world around you. We received this book this week- and today, Earth Day- is the perfect day to share it!
Thank you Jack Wong for visiting our classes virtually during our Reading Week- we sure loved getting to meet you, chatting about your two previous children’s books, and learning some drawing tips! And thank you @groundwoodbooks for sending us this stunning book to add to our growing Jack Wong collection!
Beautiful picture book to read-aloud to your children or students, to share during Spring time or for Earth Day, and as a kick-off to any units on gardening/spring.
Story about gardens, nature, vegetables, weeds and all that goodness!
Heartwarming pictures and conversations on family, siblings, and the sharing of knowledge.
Love love love!
As a nature lover & gardener, this book just spoke to my heart 💚 Jack Wong’s incredible illustrations allow the simple yet beautiful story shine in its message of sharing knowledge and being curious about the world around you. We received this book this week- and today, Earth Day- is the perfect day to share it!
Thank you Jack Wong for visiting our classes virtually during our Reading Week- we sure loved getting to meet you, chatting about your two previous children’s books, and learning some drawing tips! And thank you @groundwoodbooks for sending us this stunning book to add to our growing Jack Wong collection!
Beautiful picture book to read-aloud to your children or students, to share during Spring time or for Earth Day, and as a kick-off to any units on gardening/spring.
March 23, 2024
There is something wonderfully subversive that kids do as they are learning about the world, especially when that knowledge is passed down from someone older than them, and that is to ask why, and why not, and how do you know? Why not keep watering "an especially bad patch" of a garden that someone else has given up on, in order to see what might grow? Why not let wild dandelions flower, so that their yellow color dots the fields, and so that children can blow their seeds—even if it means their roots become too bitter to eat? "Why are some plants called flowers, and others weeds"—and some both? How do we know "which stars belong to which constellations"? In this beautifully, softly lit book, each illustration capturing a sense of awe and wonder, the young narrator may "have to admit" that their older sister knows some things, like how "soft and buttery" cooked fiddleheads taste. But even as the narrator absorbs their sister's experience and guidance, they hold to their questions, eventually making a discovery that is new even to their sister.
A tender book about tending to our gardens and to our own curiosity.
A tender book about tending to our gardens and to our own curiosity.
May 1, 2024
A beautifully illustrated meditation on both nature and knowing - how things grow in the wild, and how questions and knowledge can grow inside us. An older sibling shares their knowledge of plants and gardening, while the younger sibling shares questions and wonderings. I love how this book is full of questions but only some are answered...others are allowed to grow and bloom in their own time. And multiple ways of knowing and learning are honored - sometimes you find the answer in a book, sometimes you find the "answer" by digging in and getting your hands dirty :) And no spoilers, but my favorite springtime treat (best served with butter and salt) gets a double page spread all to itself!!
May 17, 2024
A brother and sister have a garden and talk about the different types of trees, shrubs, and vegetables they have. This picture book is extremely problematic for me. The artwork is gorgeous - defined and yet sweeping pastel illustrations - and it should be a wonderful foundation for this story. But the story is … undefined. It doesn’t make sense. The siblings talk about the sister’s nature knowledge, lots of technical botany terms used, and that’s really it. The narrative is not linear nor a real “story,” it just talks about plants and not even in a “picture book/story book masquerading as non-fiction” type that has come out so often recently. The prose is just boring. I hate that it is because the artwork is just SO GOOD. Meh, 3 stars.
January 28, 2026
There are children's books about plants out there that provide a lot more information and insight (instead of asking unanswered questions), but I really enjoy any story that asks its reader to look into their own world and see, observe, ask questions, and try to find answers. The simple "I don't know what that flower is but we can look it up later" feels to me quite "profound." That being said, I've not read this with a child so maybe I'll change my mind about that once I'm reading it to my future nieces/nephews/whomever else.
March 12, 2024
A book that hints at wild foraging! And questions why "weeds" are considered weeds. I think this would be a great book to read to kids who are showing interest in plants and gardening. It's definitely more only a beginning to that journey of learning because it hints at more questions than it answers. And I like that it hints that our lead's sister knows a lot of what she does because of the books she has and reads.
October 21, 2024
Why are some plants called flowers while others are labeled as weeds? A young boy explores his neighborhood with his older sister as she teaches him about the plants they encounter. Some have sweet scents but aren't edible, while others can be eaten only if cooked first. Gorgeous pastel illustrations complement this story about plants and nature, encouraging children to observe the greenery around them and perhaps even start their own gardens.
April 20, 2024
“Magnolias smell like lemon cake,” is the first line in this evocative picture book. The story follows a boy as he learns all about plants in the neighbourhood and garden from his older sister and his observations. Gorgeous illustrations and lyrical language pair beautifully in this contemplative picture book. This is a perfect book for nature-lovers and curious minds.
April 14, 2026
A cute story about a boy learning about plants from his older sister. What stands out most is how it embraces questions instead of rushing to answers. The story is gentle and paired with soft, dreamy illustrations that match the slow pace of growing and learning. Perfect if you’re in the mood for something calm to read to your students.
March 8, 2024
Another beautifully written and illustrated book by Jack Wong. As a boy learns about gardening from his older sister, he contemplates why we decide to cultivate some plants and not others. It's a tender and thought-provoking story with warm, inviting illustrations.
March 9, 2024
This is a book about a child gardening that's different than other gardening themed books. The new gardener wonders how her sister knows so much, and wants to keep trying in the garden to see what grows. It's a realistic portrayal of the work and uncertainty that goes into gardening.
March 15, 2024
ALL THAT GROWS is written and gorgeously (chalk?) illustrated by Jack Wong and is a celebration of magnolias, quince, goutweed, and everything that grows. But at the heart of this gloriously illustrated story is a bond between family and life lessons as only the earth can teach us--ADORE!
April 10, 2024
This quiet story will have readers contemplating how much we know,and at the same time how little we know, about plants. Like this young boy I’ve often wondered just how people have discovered the mysteries of nature, but liked the nod to books being a place to start.
April 12, 2024
A quiet, thoughtful kid learns about gardening and plants from their sister but also from trial and error, patience and persistence -- and a great deal of wondering. A good book to promote wondering about nature. A gem. Characters present Asian-Canadian.
April 21, 2024
Getting hands dirty is a cure-all for a lot of things so this picture book celebrating gardening and "all that grows" with its pastel illustrations for a calming, healing approach.
The conversation between gardeners- sister and brother- is meditative.
The conversation between gardeners- sister and brother- is meditative.
April 23, 2024
A tender story full of wonder for all that grows. A young boy learns about gardening and wild plants from his sister, learning both from her knowledge and his own inquiry. A warm an inviting story, beautifully illustrated, and sure to invite readers to come back for more.
May 6, 2024
A quiet, curious little picture book of a child becoming a gardener. The tone and vibe of this book matches the activity of gardening pretty well. The illustrations are lovely. I want more books done with pastels, and it works especially nicely here.
August 22, 2024
What a lovely book! Through a brother and sister's gentle exploration of plants around them (including plants they can forage), this book helps readers slow down and appreciate nature, the art of gardening, and our connection to the earth. A clear Caldecott contender!
September 14, 2024
I loved the specificity of plants in this story and the sister relationship at the heart of it. I loved how the little girl asked questions about how her sister knew the answers to all of these questions. I just wish I liked the ending better. Beautifully smudgy illustrations too.
December 13, 2024
Quite the book on gardening / outside / plants / flowers. I learned a lot in there. What you can and cannot eat that grows. Weeds vs. plants... great illustrations as well. Almost non-fiction really... .lots of facts in this fiction picture book...
April 13, 2025
Worthwhile sibling story about a garden and how much more his sister knows about plants, weeds, and how to care for the plants. There is one reference to books when he asks about a new growth neither of them recognize, but most of the book is about nature. It is lovely.
July 30, 2025
The pastels have wonderful texture, so you can feel the ground and all the growing! There's a jump in age from the little boy to the young man who is growing his own garden. It's a subtle change but lets the reader know how much the boy has grown with his sister's help.
October 2, 2025
A child experiencing nature in their neighborhood, flowers, trees, nature, gardens, vegetables, weeds, and fiddleheads from the market- must be cooked or you are sick. And new plants growing where they planted other things.
January 17, 2024
Jack Wong's art style is beautiful and dreamy and it pairs perfectly with this quiet nature story about a child's wonderment.
March 5, 2024
A sweet, touching interaction between two siblings. With themes of curiosity, discovery, and nature, this gentle story is of an older sister teaching a younger brother about gardening and life.
March 15, 2024
Probably need to re-read to get the full story as I was too distracted by the gorgeous illustrations.
Petition to change Caldecott rules so that Wong can win.
Petition to change Caldecott rules so that Wong can win.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews