Tiny Garden: A Picture Book

by Deborah Underwood, Jax Chow (Illustrator)

On a street that covets big, showy gardens, Andrew sets out to grow his own tiny garden in this picture book about slowing down, appreciating the little things, and staying true to yourself. From bestselling, award-winning author Deborah Underwood and debut illustrator Jax Chow

Andrew loves plants, but he’s overwhelmed by the fancy plots in his neighborhood—too big, too tall, too much.

With soil, seeds, water, and patience, Andrew’s tiny garden blooms into a size his neighbors may not understand, but that’s perfect for tiny leaves, tiny colors, and tiny visitors.

Beloved author Deborah Underwood’s ode to cultivating and caring for one small rectangle of the world, paired with Jax Chow’s exquisite debut illustrations, is also about caring for oneself—and staying true to both, no matter what.

Genres: Picture Books, Gardening, Nature, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

Published March 3, 2026

Reviews

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a joyful, delightful book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is a story about a young boy and the tiny garden that he plants. I can’t express enough how much I love how Andrew has agency over his activity and how confident he is in his creation. It’s wonderful to see such respect for a young child and that respect is well deserved. I love Andrew and I love the garden, which is as perfect as anything can be.

The illustrations are special. They’re gorgeous and fun. This is this illustrator’s first picture book and I hope that they illustrate many, many more picture books. They’re a new favorite of mine. I love the dog! I love the colors and the art style and everything about the artwork.

A full 5 stars for the story and for the pictures. I could go on and on about how great this book is but I’ll just say I recommend it for all picture book readers & listeners, families, classrooms and all school and public libraries. I might eventually have to buy a copy for myself (from an independent bookstore) and it would be a perfect gift for all young children. I would guess that most kids are going to feel inspired to plant a garden of their own so this book would be a perfect accompaniment to a family or school garden project, but doing that is not at all necessary in order to fully appreciate this book.

I am an online acquaintance of the author but I happen to know she doesn’t look at her books on social media, or at least Goodreads, so I do feel free to honestly rate her books.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely delightful, and almost perfect. I think the neighbor could tone it down a bit. But otoh Andrew's a better person than I, and he handled her perfectly. Andrew is also wonderfully patient... even though I'm quiet and not impatient I'm not as wise as this child. I also love the art style, though it does resemble other works that I haven't... it's just exactly right for this book. And don't miss the end papers, front and back are different!

[Sirah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little boy sees his neighbor's garden and thinks it's too much. So he makes a tiny garden. The neighbor doesn't understand and keeps questioning the little boy's choice, but the boy likes his tiny garden, no matter what anyone says.

I like the concept of this book, but I honestly think it could have done with less conflict. I love that the boy grows a garden that's just right for him, but there's nothing wrong with big gardens and nothing wrong with tiny gardens: both characters are right, and this book fails to understand that. Still, this little book is beautifully illustrated and full of mindful moments. It's a pleasure to read.

[Jamie Johnson Leach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I'm inspired 🌻

[YSBR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Small is beautiful in this lovely picture book celebration of a boy’s tiny garden. Gorgeous and delicate illustrations in gouache, watercolor, and pencil introduce us to Andrew, a small boy with light skin and black hair. He loves gardens, but finds the fancy ones on his street overwhelming. So he designs a tiny garden, in fact, it looks to be about the size of a shoebox. Underwood uses lush and sensorial language to describe preparing the ground and planting; the smell of the soil “tickles Andrew’s nose” while “the earth wrapped his fingers in cool”. He tucks the seeds with “soft pats…and watered, ever so gently.” As befits the theme of the book, the illustrations are often small, surrounded by lots of empty white space, although Chow occasionally switches things up. The towering and elaborate gardens in Andrew’s neighborhood spread across two whole pages, as does the impactful image of Andrew sprawled on the ground, patiently waiting for his seeds to grow, kept company by 3 birds and a butterfly. Although a pesky, grown-up gardener keeps chiding Andrew about his too-small plot, it turns out to be just the right size for a host of tiny creatures looking for a place to call home. “I still don’t see the point of such a tiny garden,” said the neighbor. But Andrew watches a tiny ladybug zoom in for a landing and replies “That’s okay…I do.” This was such a gentle and meditative look at the joys of gardening, which never lapsed into didactic sermonizing. Andrew seemed like a real little boy, with the book’s language and the size of his endeavor appropriately child-like. The book may even prompt some self-reflection among adults, who sometimes dismiss kid-size schemes as naive. Link to complete review: https://ysbookreviews.wordpress.com/2...

[Tonja Drecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations mix with carefully laid words to create a story to get lost in time and again.

Andrew loves plants but finds many gardens overwhelming. With seeds, he heads outdoors and creates his own, small plot, and watches what happens.

I'm just going to start with the illustrations because they are gorgeous. The watercolor scenes allow readers to sink into the world with a playful vibrance, which invites to dreams and, yet, stays in the lovely reality of flowers, plants, and being outdoors to watch everything grow and thrive. It's a treat to flip through each one and simply enjoy the scenes...which works great, since not every page has words.

The text is as potent as the illustrations, and carefully used to propel the tale forward but never overtaking the illustrations. The words feel poetic, at times, and lead the actions at others. It creates a nice read-aloud for even more reluctant listeners and works well for the age group.

Andrew's love for plants is contagious, and these pages show readers that they can grow their own, colorful plots as well. They don't have to be big to be enjoyable. So, there's a lovely message about community, growing plants, cultivating, and enjoying the world. In other words, there is quite a bit enjoy in these pages. This even works well to lead into an activity of planting seeds.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

First sentence: Andrew loved plants. But the fancy gardens on his block overwhelmed him. Too big. Too tall. Too much. So he dug a small rectangle in the grass. "Is that a garden?" asked a neighbor. "It needs to be much bigger." "This will be my tiny garden," said Andrew.

Premise/plot: Andrew creates a tiny garden that is appreciated greatly by tiny animals that love this garden that feels perfectly perfect for them.

My thoughts: I enjoyed this one. Deborah Underwood is a great writer with a way with words. This one is all about appreciating nature and finding your own happy place in the world.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A boy plants a small garden in front of his house despite his neighbor's comments that it is too small. As the tiny plants grow tiny shoots, tiny insects and birds find a haven. This quiet story is a breath of fresh air! This book is for all of those who recognize the tiny worlds of plants and insects. For all of us who like quiet moments of wonder. This book would make a wonderful gift book for a grandchild.

[Erin Buhr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A super sweet book for Springtime. A little boy, overwhelmed by the grandeur of the showy gardens in his neighborhood, plants the tiniest garden of his own. It turns out, with some care, that this the tiniest of gardens is the perfect home for the tiniest of creatures.

[Tina Hoggatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A small boy, overwhelmed by the gardens on his block, makes a very small garden in his front lawn. His autonomy, vision, and joy in the booming patch of earth is just right and kid centric. Lovely illustrations by Jax Chow are soft, colorful and also just right. A charmer.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Andrew is overwhelmed by a neighborhood garden, he decides to start his own garden. I thought the illustrations were unique, and I really enjoyed them. It's too bad there was an obnoxious neighbor in the story, but other than that I liked it.

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

To me, this book is perfect. <3

[Child960801 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little boy plants a tiny garden which ends up being just the right size.

[Miss Janis the Storytime Lady · Rating 2 out of 5]

okay. Pretty young group, so it didn't work great. The olders in the crowd liked talking about the tiny things and why they liked the tiny garden

[createitlibrarian (Amanda) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely book. A little on the quieter side for reading.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

We loved the illustrations, specially the cute moth.
A story about doing things you enjoy doing, however you want to do them. A story about trusting yourself no matter what other people say.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't love the art, but I did love the story.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Preschool and school-age
3.5