Story Time: Lola Plants a Garden by Anna McQuinn
Spring has arrived! You can smell it in the crisp morning air and see it as leaves begin to unfurl on the bare winter trees. With nature making it's yearly comeback, I thought it was a perfect time to introduce a beautiful little book on gardening and the wonders of life.
I just love the process depicted in Lola Plants a Garden written by Anna McQuinn and illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw. In their book, Lola, a little girl, falls in love with the poem Mary, Mary Quite Contrary... which makes her want to plant her own garden! She is a very curious little girl, so her mom takes her to the library to learn more about flowers and choose all of her favourite ones. Afterwards, they buy some seeds, plant them, and wait for them to grow. In the meantime, she keeps herself busy creating flowery crafts, and sharing her passion with her friends.
If you've read my blog, you can see how this story speaks to me! It touches on everything I love: books, quality time with family, and crafts. The protagonist, Lola, reminds me of my own little man, who is very curious as well and loves to learn about things he doesn't understand through books. He also often asks to do "science experiments" to try things out for himself and understand how the world works, and he love to plant seeds in the Spring. He even has his own little watering can, and he is in charge of watering the plants on the balcony in the morning.
Lola's childhood sounds like a perfect one to me; full of quality time with her parents, reading, playing with friends, trying new activities like planting seeds, and seeing the results over time of her work... Lola Plants a Garden is a great book for introducing your child to the marvels of nature, and I guarantee you will come away from reading it with a warm fuzzy feeling.
Other books we love about gardening include:
- Two Old Potatoes and Me by John Coy and Carolyn Fisher
- Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
- The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
- Oh Say Can You Seed: All About Flowering Plants by Bonnie Worth
- The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
Happy Reading!