Water, Weed, and Wait
K-Gr 2–Miss Marigold cajoles youngsters at Pepper Lane Elementary into cleaning up a section of the playground and planting flowers and vegetables. Grouchy Mr. Barkley, who lives on the other side of the schoolyard fence and has a fine garden of his own, soon becomes an ally, adding to Miss Marigold's lessons. Busy cartoon-style, mixed-media scenes crowd the pages with the children and their plants as "the garden lady" dispenses seed packets from her hat brim and cautions them all to "water, weed, and wait." She cheerily advises that "school gardens take plans, plants, and people" and goes on to shower the garden with ladybugs and help the children make a worm bin. Finally all is ready for a celebration and a vegetable feast, complete with Mr. Barkley appearing as a singing carrot. This quick skim of the gardening process and the crammed scenes offer more encouragement than actual information. The authors include a bit of broad advice in endnotes along with a short list of websites, some safety rules, and a general planning checklist. Didactic in its scheme and tone, the book might reassure teachers and classes considering some gardening.Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston© Copyright 2010.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.  No redistribution permitted.