Hello, Garden!

by Katherine Pryor, Rose Soini (Illustrations)

A sweet board book that introduces toddlers to the sights and sounds of the garden.

Say hello, garden! The sun is up, and it’s time to explore the natural world right outside your door. From sunup to sundown, there’s always a warm welcome hello to be found among the inhabitants and vegetation of your own backyard.

Genres: Picture Books, Nature, Childrens, Gardening

24 pages, Board Book

Published May 4, 2021

About the author

Katherine Pryor is an award-winning children’s book author and good food advocate. She grew up in California and Arizona before moving to Seattle to study food and farming. Her books are widely used in school garden curriculum, nutrition education, and anti-hunger initiatives. In addition to writing, Katherine has worked to create better food choices at institutions, large corporations & food banks.

She made her picture book debut with Sylvia’s Spinach, which is widely used to support nutrition education and school garden curriculum. Her second picture book, Zora's Zucchini​, won the 2016 Growing Good Kids Book Award. Her third picture book, Bea's Bees, was called "a necessary addition to elementary library shelves as an important contribution to the understanding and conservation of bees" by School Library Journal.

Home is Calling: The Journey of the Monarch Butterfly won the SCBWI Charlotte & Wilbur Award for Compassion for Animals, was named a 2024 Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts by NCTE, and was featured on the Texas Topaz Nonfiction Reading List.

Kirkus Reviews called Spring is for Strawberries “A delightful blend of friendship, fresh food, melodious language, and luscious illustrations.”

Her first board book, Hello, Garden!, won the 2022 Gold Medal, IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award, and the book was extended into a four-book series including Hello, Rain!, Hello, Beach!, and Hello, Snow!, which won a 2025 Mom's Choice Gold Award.

She lives in Sonoma County, California.

Reviews

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

This board book by North West author Pryor is an ode to gardens and everything that is part of it during a day. A biracial family is exploring their garden. The two children, a boy and a girl, walk through the garden bare foot and see all it has to offer. It has insects, animals, flowers and vegetables. The reader is also seeing what is happening underground because there is a combination of close ups and overall view of the garden. Delicate watercolor illustrations, give this story a soft touch. The rhyming short sentences make this attractive for very young readers.
Pre-Kindergarten
Written
R

[Nanny Miss Monique · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s so much life and fun to be found in the garden! After exploring the joys of growing food in “Zora’s Zuccini” and “Sylvia’s Spinach”, Author Katherine Pryor takes us on a new horticultural adventure with “Hello, Garden”, her first board book. It celebrates a day in the life of a little girl and boy, sister and brother, getting their hands and feet in the dirt, picking fruits and vegetables, and interacting with all of the animal life right in their backyard.

“Hello” will stoke children’s imagination and curiosity, and encourage them to explore their own gardens. The calming, simple, yet poetic writing style fits beautifully with illustrator Rose Soini’s soft yet vibrant artwork. There are diverse and inclusive characters, subtly showing us an interracial family just enjoying a warm sunny day in a lush landscape. “Hello Garden” will surely become a favorite to read to your little green thumb!

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

A normal original board book depicting the children’s day exploring a vegetable garden. Interestingly there are two two board illustrations that are very good showing above and below the soil line, one features bare feet walking on the soil and the other depicting a big eyed mouse in his burrow munching a strawberry. The other illustrations are very mediocre in comparison to these two.

[Kate M. Colby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack borrowed this book from the Ashland Public Library.

At first reading, Jack wasn’t super interested in this book. But later, he asked me to read it again and looked at it himself. It has a nice variety of plants, animals, and vocabulary words. Though, sometimes I find the phrasing a little odd or potentially confusing for young ones.

[Angela De Groot · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful day in the garden. Family time outdoors enjoy and exploring nature.

[Emily Weigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute! Perfect, because I bring the baby with me to tend my garden and I want her to love it, too.

[Mrs Heet -Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations, simple text, perfect for a storytime!

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet illustration and cadence kept little one’s attention. Very cute.

[Kate Beger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, basic book about life in a garden. The illustrations are educational and detailed enough to show what a garden is truly like.

[Emily Hazleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

We love this one. It's about the garden, but the illustrations show the love of family and belonging to one another and a place.

[Maeve · Rating 3 out of 5]

A family wakes up and spends the day in their vegetable garden.

[Andrés · Rating 3 out of 5]

This family spends a lovely day out in their garden from wake-up until bedtime, and it's very grounding to read about all the activities in the garden at micro-level.

[Pinky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two kids enjoy a long day in the garden.