A young girl describes her family’s efforts planting, tending, and eventually harvesting their garden in this informational picture book that pairs a fictional story line, which itself provides plenty of facts about growing things, with a factual narrative developed as an ongoing commentary from chickens Maisy and Daisy. In addition to the poultry’s patter (dialogue shown with the use of speech bubbles), information is provided in charts, diagrams, and other dimensions of the illustrations in a book that discusses how plants store energy, and their role in the larger food chain and food web. The facts go down easily, and the garden comes up beautifully, in a story that culminates with a bountiful autumn harvest. (Ages 4–8)

Perfect for spring planting season--an outstanding book about backyard science the whole family will appreciate.

Alice's family plants a vegetable garden each spring, and this budding naturalist reports all she sees about how the plants grow, what insects come to eat the plants, and what birds and animals come to eat the insects. It's the food chain, right in her own backyard!

While Alice's narrative is simple and engaging, science concepts are presented in more depth in sidebars by a pair of very knowledgeable (and highly amusing) chickens! Noted science writer Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld knows how to layer information to make it accessible to a wide range of readers and useful for educators. And illustrator Priscilla Lamont's funny, friendly paintings make this a garden everyone will want to explore.

Kids will eat up this wonderful book of backyard science--and perhaps they'll even be inspired to eat their vegetables!

"A wonderfully informative and enjoyable journey through one family's backyard garden, from spring planting to fall harvest. . . . this is bound to spark some backyard explorations." --Kirkus, Starred Review