Grow: A Novel in Verse

by Juanita Havill, Stanislawa Kodman (Illustrator)

This verse novel about the creation of a community garden reveals the extraordinary magic that occurs when ordinary people work together.

Everything about Berneetha is big—especially her dreams. And when Berneetha decides to create a garden on a vacant lot, twelve-year-old Kate Sibley just has to help make that dream a reality. At first the neighbors think Kate and Berneetha are crazy, but slowly a community begins to grow, much like the plants do.

But just as the garden and Kate are both beginning to bloom, a sign goes a parking garage will be built on the lot. Can Kate and Berneetha and their friends keep the garden and the dream alive?

Award-winning author Juanita Havill's story of a community garden in an urban neighborhood is told through the eyes of an impressionable girl in a series of richly detailed prose poems. The result is an affecting, lasting portrait of community life and the power of shared commitment and hope.

Genres: Poetry, Middle Grade, Novel In Verse, Juvenile, Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Childrens

160 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2008

About the author

Juanita Havill is the author of more than thirty books for children, including I Heard It from Alice Zucchini, a collection of poems about the garden; Jamaica's Find, a Reading Rainbow Review Book, IRA-CBC Children's Choice, and the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award); Jamaica Tag-Along (an American Bookseller Pick of the Lists); and Eyes Like Willy's (Crown-Lamplighter honor book). She lives and gardens in Arizona and writes and teaches writing.

For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/juanita-...

Reviews

[The Library Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reviewer says that this is unnecessary because Paul Fleischman wrote Seedfolks. So does that mean that "Harry Potter" was unnecessary because "Oliver Twist" was about an orphan and Diana Wynne-Jones wrote "The Lives of Christopher Chant" and Roald Dahl wrote "James and the Giant Peach" --all of which have theme elements Rowling clearly uses?

Judge a book on its own merits.Yes, this is about a garden. Yes, it's about how it changes peoples lives. Yes, it's in verse form. All just like Fleischman's book.

But the characters are strong, well drawn people. The viewpoint is a singular one--that of 12 year old Kate-- and the book is aimed at a younger audience then "Seedfolks". It's simpler, less lyrical, and as such will be wonderful for elementary age readers. And they will cheer Kate on and get what she is saying:

I think I feel what the lettuce feels.
People have finally quit pulling leaves off
here and there,
cutting me down to size.
They let me have my head,
let me grow, grow, grow
into what
I've been wanting to be all along--
a flower

[Kimberly Patton]

Very cute middle grade novel in verse about a community garden. Loved the imagery and fun plot. In exploring novels in verse, this was good. Some of the lines felt too short, and the tone was aimed for younger readers but I enjoyed it.

[Tanja · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more novels in verse I read, the fonder I become of them. And to think that I was never too excited about reading poetry. But there is something magical about a well-written novel in verse, like a beautiful song that gently takes you dancing and twirling around. I loved seeing Berneetha's garden grow, experiencing how the people within it and their relationships blossomed too, how the garden brought hope and happiness even though there are lots of challenges inside and outside of the garden to overcome. I think this would make a wonderful choice for a LitCircle or book club too, so much to explore, discover, discuss and appreciate both in the words and the accompanying illustrations.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Grow: A Novel in Verse" was written by Jaunita Havill and Illustrated by Stanislawa Kodman. The story is told through the eyes of a twelve year old girl named Kate Sibley. Throughout the book you will also meet Berneetha, a very outgoing retired special education teacher who decides to grow a community garden on an abandoned trash filled lot; Harlan a reformed graffiti painter that trades in his illegal hobbies to help plant; and many other members of the community (although skeptical at first) come together in order to make the community garden great. In an unique twist, you will also be introduced to the different feelings and thoughts of the many plants that are growing within the garden.
When Kate learns that Berneetha is going to plant a garden on Mr. Conn's trash filled abandoned lot she knows that she has to be a part of it. In order to start the garden they must first get rid of all of the trash, the people in the neighborhood believe that the two are crazy at first but as the garden starts to take shape, people slowly begin to join them in helping the garden grow. After a couple of weeks of working hard on the garden Kate, Berneetha, and Harlan learn that the owner of the lot unexpectedly passes away leaving it to his son that wants to destroy the garden and build a parking garage in its place. All hope for the garden is almost lost until a fireman named Tony offers them another lot to grow their garden. All the members of the community band together in transplanting the plants into their new home and as the garden grows so does the bond of the community.
Havill has created a wonderful book full of relatable characters with personal issues. The illustrations throughout the book are beautifully drawn and adds to the enjoyment of reading story. Kodman uses well illustrated line drawn pictures with a beautiful pallet of colors. I highly recommend!

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a short and sweet novel in verse... about a community coming together to form a garden - one that everyone is apart of, and one where everyone is welcomed.

Kate and Berneetha have a grand idea to start a garden in a vacant lot on the corner of their street. Neighbors, at first, question Berneetha and Kate, as to why they'd even think of putting a garden in that location, but to them it was just perfect. Soon after, Harlan, another kid in the neighborhood, joins in. More follow, choosing one plant to care for in the lot.

Word gets out that the owner of the lot, Mr. Conn, is going to put a parking lot in its place, which will mean the garden must be destroyed.... until Tony Donatello comes into the picture... Kate's childhood crush (even though he's a full-grown firefighter). Tony decides to move the garden to the lot next door to the fire station, and everyone becomes filled with joy, to see their beloved garden, now complete with a water fountain, thriving.

Winter comes, and Harlan has a choice to make. Kate struggles, but within her sadness, she thinks of Berneetha, and of their beautiful friendship.

This was so sweet, and a pretty quick read as well. I'll recommend it to someone who likes a Novel in Verse, and who enjoys a nice & happy story.

[Andrew Everson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this poetic novel very greatly, because when reading poetry there is so much you can feel, unlike a normal sentence. The story is from the point of view of Kate Sibley, who is struggling with her weight along with special education teacher Berneetha, who creates a community garden. Many of the characters in this novel experience different trials that many of us today go through. I thought it was very interesting and genius to have the garden to represent the symbol of community. Because of the zoning issues, like many of the characters the plants are affected by this and the kids are affected by weight, divorce, abuse, crime, and suffering; through this the community comes together. This novel can be used for 5th-8th grade, I think one it can help us with the way we treat each other. And it can also help us connect with one another because we all go through something. This is a big reason why I enjoyed this novel I felt very present.

[Roxanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully vivid

[Gretchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grow by Juanita Havill is a novel in verse told from the point of view of Kate, a 12 year old girl who is friends with Berneetha, an older woman who decides the vacant lot in the neighborhood will be the spot for their new garden. Kate and Berneetha work hard to create life in this space. They are challenged by the owner of the lot and are joined and helped by their friends and some strangers.

I found this book on Amazon because I needed another verse novel (I’ve read all, I think, of the more famous ones). Havill was inspired by her own love of gardens to write about them, and she has other collections of garden poetry. The book is an easy read and is meant for a 5th or 6th grade reader. It has some beautiful illustrations and is only 150 pages.

The main themes are acceptance and finding the beauty in life. Kate is insecure because her mom constantly tells her she needs to lose weight. Kate is very aware of her body, but when she is working in the garden she is focused on making things beautiful. Berneetha and the garden help Kate to feel like she is doing something good. Berneetha is a former special education teacher, and at the beginning of the novel, Kate isn’t sure that Berneetha’s students are really aware of Berneetha. After the garden is underway, Berneetha’s students come to visit her and Kate realizes that the garden and Berneetha do make a difference in their lives. It is a beautiful moment of understanding, because Kate realizes that everyone can be happy and inspired.

Throughout the novel, people help and hinder the production of the garden. Kate comes to realize that not everything in life is fair, especially when her friend is arrested because of something horrible his father has done. However, her relationship with her mother has improved by the end, and Kate sees how a community can come together to create something beautiful. I enjoyed the themes of the book, and I liked Kate and Berneetha, but the novel felt like it was missing something. Havill mentions a lot of characters, and even though I read the book in about half an hour over two sittings, I couldn’t remember who some of the people were. It also felt like there were a lot of things happening that didn’t get the proper time they deserved, like Kate’s body image issues, her friend’s relationship with his father, and the conflict between Berneetha and the man who owned the lot. The story resolved very quickly and I wasn’t entirely sure how Berneetha had fixed the problem. Even though the story and language is simplistic, it still felt a little confusing to me because of Havill’s mentioning characters or events and then not developing them.

Overall, it was a cute book with some beautiful language about growing up (in reference to both the garden and Kate).

[Millie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an easy fast read.When Berneetha decides to grow a vegetable garden on Mr. Conn’s vacant lot, twelve year old Kate joins her. Berneetha is a retired teacher and everything about her is big. In Kate’s words” Berneetha is not fat. “She’s big. She’s round. There is a lot of her. Berneetha is not meant to fit in the same skinny space reserved for people who care about those things”. Kate and Berneetha head out together to the vacant lot and start preparing it for planting. First they have to get rid of all the trash. At first people in the neighborhood think the two are crazy. But as the garden starts to takes shape people slowly join in; Harlan the “graffiti gangster”, Dr. Citra Arockiasamy who contributes tomatoes plants, and various other community members. Soon the garden is ready and the vegetables have been planted. But when Mr. Conn dies, his son claims the lo. He plans to put up a packing garage. The garden is almost lost but Tony Donatello, the fire man, offers the gardeners an alternative lot next to the firehouse. Members of the community including Kate’s mother help transplant the vegetables to the new lot. The garden is saved and the community grows close together as they all work together for a common goal.
The author uses a lot of characterization and imagery throughout the novel. Kate’s voice makes it easy to follow along as the story unfolds. Even though the novel is in verse, the author uses the short, concise sentences to communicate the emotions of the characters clearly. As the vacant lot undergoes a transformation under the ministrations of Berneetha so do Kate and the other members of the community. The characters are going through issues that are easy to identify with. Kate is overweight and she doesn’t have a dad and Harlan comes from a dysfunctional family with an abusive dad. The whimsical illustrations add to the beauty of the story.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed by Julie M. Prince for TeensReadToo.com

GROW is one of those books that goes down easy. It just has all those elements that makes the reader immediately relax and enjoy the unfolding story. Beginning with great voice and characterization right on the first page, the prose in verse flows right through this entire book so that it's swallowed in one smooth gulp.

Kate may be the narrator of this tale, but Berneetha is the glue that holds everything together. When Berneetha the cat lady decides to grow a garden in the middle of nothing, twelve-year-old Kate is reluctant to help. Everyone is sure to think the two of them are crazy. Except, soon it's not just the two of them. As people join the crusade to clean up the empty lot, more than just a garden is grown from nothing.

"A weed is anything growing
Where you don't want it to grow.
I don't know
where Harlan lives,
only that he looks hungry most days
and he doesn't want
to go home in the evening.
I don't think I'll tell him
about that garden-book
theory of weeds."

This emotional story is shown in brilliant illustrations by Stanislawa Kodman, whose name will stick in my mind because I cannot forget the person who created these drawings. The simple, everyday items that are twisted into beauty. Junk into treasure. The theme of the book perfectly drawn out by both author and illustrator. What a team.

And not to be overlooked is the quality of the book itself. A silky smooth dust jacket, featuring brilliantly composed illustrations by Kodman. Large, light print on the inside that makes an already easy-to-read book even easier on the eye.

The only thing missing from this book is an award sticker.

[Bree Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast read about the coming together of an urban area in Minnesota to create a space for all to help and take care of. A safe space. A garden. People of all walks help to keep the space alive after big corps try to ruin this idea and plan.

Very much a raw feeling. Happy-go-lucky feelings sprinkled with real world issues.

[Tami · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grow is written in free verse and is a quick, easy, beautiful read. The story centers around 12-year-old Kate who lives in Minneapolis, MN. She is drawn into helping an out-of-work special ed teacher in the neighborhood–Berneetha–create a community garden.

Berneetha is a large woman who is sometimes made fun of by others in the neighborhood–an occurrence which infuriates Kate. Berneetha is also remarkable in her warmth and her ability to draw others in the community into the creation of the garden. She sees potential in everyone–even when Kate thinks she shouldn’t. That is how Harlan, a wannabe “grafitti gangsta” becomes part of the core group for the project.

Harlan and Kate each struggle with their own issues at home, but are drawn into a tender and meaningful friendship under Berneetha’s guidance. When the landowner dies and his successor wants to build a parking garage where their garden is beginning to flourish Kate and Harlan are devastated. Berneetha is mad. She energizes the others to fight the proposal at City Hall. With the future of the garden in jeopardy, Kate discovers that things do not always work out the way you would like and solutions come in different ways from unexpected sources.

This is an excellent read-aloud selection for both content and form. The language flows in an exquisite stream and the story is easily identifiable to readers of all ages. Uplifting and sprinkled with profound moments of self-discovery, it is also a great independent read selection for middle grade readers.

[Diann Morales · Rating 3 out of 5]

Berneetha is a colorful, caring, and compassionate out of work teacher. Berneetha who is as unique as her name never gives up and never sees the bad in anyone or anything, out of work but not out of hope she decides to make a community garden. She enlists the help of Kate an overweight 12 year old, Harlan a troubled teen and an assortment of initially unwilling helpers. As the garden begins to grow and bloom so do Kate, Harlan and the people in the community. Trouble brews, one of Berneetha's cats is killed, the owner of the lot decides to build a parking garage and Harlan has a problem with the police. Never one to give up Berneetha with the support of Tony save the day. The garden is transplanted with the help of everyone in the community, Harlan clears his name, Berneetha gets her teaching job back and Kate learns that everything and everyone can learn to bloom and grow.

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story told in verse. A girl is helping an older woman in the neighborhood make a garden in a vacant lot. Slowly, other members of the community begin helping to make it a real garden. A hoodlum, scientist, fireman, war vet, and others all work together to turn the lot into a garden. But then the man who inherits the lot decided to build a parking garage their. The community fights, but loses. Then they come together to move the garden to a new place. The story delicately deals with social relations, self image, and growing up. The hoodlum’s father tries to get him arrested for something the father did and he has to move to Chicago with his grandmother, since his dad is in jail. The girl telling the story is very upset, but she knows it will be a better life for him. I enjoyed this and I think kids can relate to many of the feelings expressed here.

[Charlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Berneetha, an unemployed special ed teacher, is the moving force behind this book, but young Kate is the narrator. Berneetha and Kate begin to plant a community garden on a vacant lot, but before long they are joined by young Harlan. Through short poems the pain that each of the three holds inside them is evident, but together they change something ugly and unused into something beautiful. Along the way, the reader meets others in the neighborhood and learns about the power of one person's actions.
Books in verse may not appeal to everyone, but Havill uses it effectively to evoke the joys and losses of those who love the garden.

[Ellen L. Ramsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Novel in verse about planting seeds and planting friendships. About problems in the garden and in the community. Beautifully and simply told. It’s a book told by 12-year–old Kate, it’s a book about Berneetha, who “does things: sizzling, stirring, zapping, rocking, purring, jumping, dancing things. With Berneetha everything happens big time even the quiet things like sitting still and staring at frost on the window in winter or counting cricket chips when the summer sun sets or staying up past midnight searching the sky with binoculars to get a look at a comet as it travels past Planet Earth for its once-in-my lifetime visit.”

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twelve-year-old Kate helps Berneetha turn an empty lot into a community garden, with the help of many others in the community along the way. When the owner of the lot wants to build a parking garage on the property, the neighborhood joins together in protest.

This novel is told in verse and can easily be read in one sitting. Although there's a little bit of drama, I consider it one of those "quiet" novels, where it's more slow-paced and not action-packed. Ideally suited for upper elementary and lower middle school, I'd recommend it for fans of novels in verse and those that enjoy stories about a community working together towards a goal. B rating.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grow is a novel in verse. Twelve-year-old Katie tells the story of the summer she helped Berneetha start a garden in their urban community. The poems describe how they cleaned up a vacant lot, how they planted their garden, how they got other members of the community involved and how friendships developed over the summer. It is a beautiful story not just about Katie and Berneetha, but about Harlan. Harlan is a young boy with an abusive father who finds his place in the garden with Katie and Berneetha. It is also the story of how the community came together to create a green space in the middle of the concrete jungle.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was told beautifully and I loved how it is written in verse. The story told is inspiring, how two people can inspire and change a neighborhood. Although it is short, the story has all the makings of a great story. Romance, death, change, and the coming together of a neighbors. I would read this book over and over. It sends a great message to children, be the change you wish to see in the world.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a chapterbook in verse this was nice. Great spring and summer read about someone doing the little they can even if they don't know they are doing good till later. This is beautiful and sweet and touched me. Very quick read and unitemidating to the reluctant reader. Probably more attractive to a girl reader. Grades 3+

[Traci · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had so much conflict and drama. The book was written in verse that did not rhyme but it was a quick read. There was a one line mention of each of the following abuse, drugs, death of a cat and being fat. It also showed how the little girl delt with being at odds with half of the town because of a garden. On the whole it was a touching story.

[Marjorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

a novel written in verse. I am drawn to this genre because the story can be told succinctly but with great emotion and description. it's like a short conversation that is so full and pleasing, it meets all your needs for the day and you can be quiet and sit in it and pull up the visual images you created. satisfying without the long term commitment.

[Mary Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really don't think this needed to be a novel in verse. The obvious comparison is to Seedfolks by Paul Fleishman -- the difference an inner city garden can make in the lives of various characters -- but Fleishman wins hands down.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pleasant novel in verse about how children and adults who participate in turning an empty lot into a garden grow as individuals and as a community. It would work well in a lesson or unit on ecology/the environment for upper elementary and lower middle school kids.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kate and her bigger than life neighbor Berneetha work together to create a garden in an empty lot in their neighborhood. Flowers and vegetables aren't the only things that grow, as more and more people offer to help.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abused children, dead beat dads, special ed teacher who has lost her funding, violent fathers, crippled Vietnam vet who is gay, a garden paradise that is paved to put in a parking lot . . . My bleeding heart is bled out.

[Jeffrey Nattania · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a delightful and quick tale of a lower income neighborhood and an out of work teacher with plans to spruce up the neighborhood with a lot garden. Many obstacles come into play as these three unlikely friends bring together a neighborhood with the love of nature.

[MissInformation · Rating 5 out of 5]

Touching (but not too sweet) urban childhood story about misfits, friendship and an neighborhood garden. Easy read for struggling readers who are ready for engaging content.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love novelss in verse, and this one is great. Kate and Berneetha start a community garden in an old lot. Lovely, quick read - great voice.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweet story of a girl, a boy and a neighborhood woman who decide to turn a vacant lot into a community garden. When trouble comes a-callin', a community helper offers a solution.