Our Community Garden

by Barbara Pollak

If you could plant a garden that would represent your personality, what would it include? Maybe cherry tomatoes, green peppers, and delicious strawberries? Audrey Aubergine and her friends do just that in their neighborhood’s community garden, where they play hide-and-seek, tend giant sunflowers, and discover nature’s possibilities.

Charmingly illustrated in a folk art style, this heartfelt story captures the excitement of children getting their hands dirty and learning to nurture living things for the first time. A celebration of different cultures and a gentle reminder of the value of people working together, Our Community Garden will appeal to all ages.

Genres: Picture Books, Gardening, Childrens, Food, Environment

32 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2004

Reviews

[Megan Cureton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our Community Garden is a book about a group of friends that have come together and planted a garden together. Each person that is involved in the garden has their own vegetables that they are growing. Some of the vegetables consist of carrots, eggplants, tomatillos, and even asparagus. At the end of the book, they all came together and had a giant feast and everyone brought their special dish made from the vegetables they grew in the community garden. I really enjoyed this book. You could take this book in so many directions for a classroom. I would read this book aloud to my future kindergarten through third graders. I really like how this book included many types of different races, and not just one. This shows students that everyone can garden and that no student feels left out because their race wasn't portrayed in the book. After reading this book, we could have a group conversation about the tools that are needed to make a garden, which is on pages 10 and 11. They consist of gloves, a watering can, pitchfork, and even a spade. I think that the pictures in the book help a lot with these tools, because some students might not have ever seen these tools before if they have never had a garden, so the pictures really let the students see what the tool actually looks like. Also, it would be really awesome if the school had an outside area, where we, as a class, could plant a community garden. You could give a group of students one vegetable and each group would be in charge of a different vegetable. We could use this book to get ideas of recipes we could make with the vegetables we grow, and there's even a resource page in the back of the book with a website link to help. I really enjoyed this book.

[Aileen Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading Our Community Garden which takes place in San Francisco. Several school aged children live next door to a community garden where they each plant something different. Tom`as grows tomatillos for his famous salsa, Cassandra grows carrots, Allison Chin grows asparagus beans, and Audrey grows skinny, purple, eggplant. When harvest time roles around, everyone makes a special dish out of the vegetables they grew and they all have a community feast.

[Mary Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audrey and her friends help in their San Francisco neighborhood garden every day after school, “We like to work in the garden, watering, digging, weeding and getting dirty.” Children will enjoy seeing how each of Audrey’s friends is growing something special, whether it’s Tomás who’s growing tomatillos and hot peppers for salsa, or Alison who’s growing ‘asparagus’ beans for her mom’s stir-fry. A local treat that’s sure to please!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great multicultural book for talking about a community garden for children.

[Villain E · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, straightforward introduction to the idea of a community garden.

[Magalys · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could be a cute gift for any community garden that focuses on youth development.

[Jessica Calaway · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 - 8 years

[Kelly Powell]

Though this book is an informational text it is written to inform the reader while also telling a story. I liked this book because I could use it in my future classroom if i wanted to teach about gardens or begin my own classroom garden. I enjoyed that the book not only discussed the different vegetables in the garden but also the intended use for that vegetable which I think children sometimes don't know these connections. This book would teach them fun and interesting facts about a garden not the tedious ones.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. I would talk about how everyone got together to create the dinner at the end of the book. I would read this book at the beginning of gardening season (April-ish). I would have students think of their favorite vegetable and write about a food that includes it. They do not have to know the recipe, but if they brought in recipes we could create a class cookbook. I like that this book showed children of different ethnicities.

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a girl that has a garden with her family. The book talks about the different types of tools that you would use in the garden. It also discusses what types of food can be grown in the garden. It even gives the recipe of the salsa that the family made. In the very back of the book it gives a website that you can go to in order to learn more about gardening.

[Brent Rogers · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is about a community that has a garden and they all grow different vegetables. They have a party and everyone brings what they grew. They make salsa, stir fry and a stew to share with everyone. It is a great book to discuss gardening and also other cultures.

[Christine Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A diverse group of people in San Francisco shares the work and fun of a community garden.
www.hcpl.net

[Qeona Greer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many children of different races come together to create their own community garden. I would use this book to teach children the meaning of acceptance and getting along with all ethnics.

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Follows a group of children who play and garden together at a community garden in San Francisco. They play in the sunflowers, dig in the dirt, and take care of plants for the first time.

[Maren Prestegaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for the spring season. Little M asked lots of questions and was engaged.