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Are you looking for books that will help youth discover gardening? These children’s books will cultivate young gardeners. The task of whittling down any list of recommended children’s books on gardening is beyond daunting. It is easy to find several hundred good choices and challenging to choose fewer than twenty.
In early 2023, the Penn State Extension Master Gardener volunteers of Lancaster County partnered with the local chapter of the Keystone State Literacy Association for a presentation, “Books for Growing Young Gardeners.”
The program highlights forty-three gardening and backyard ecology books divided by topic and age appropriateness. The recommendations included project-oriented books geared primarily to grandparents, parents, and other caregivers in addition to children’s literature.
Many of these book recommendations are in “Growing Good Kids – Excellence in Children’s Literature Awards.” This award is presented for “engaging and inspiring works of plant, garden, and ecology-themed children’s literature” as a project of the Junior Master Gardener (JMG) program hosted by Texas A&M University Extension and the American Horticultural Society.
Master Gardener Mary Jo Gibson also combed through the JMG Awards for her fine article “Plant the Seeds of Gardening with Children’s Books,” written in 2021. Other good sources include the Public Broadcasting System or the We Are Teachers websites.
Many timeless classics from Beatrix Potter’s Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) and Ruth Krauss’ The Carrot Seed (1945) retain places of honor on our bookshelves, along with selections from prolific authors of garden classics like Lois Ehlert’s Growing Vegetable Soup (1990), Gail Gibbons’ From Seed to Plant (1991), Eve Bunting’s Flower Garden (1994), Janet Stevens’ Tops and Bottoms (1995), Eric Carle’s The Tiny Seed (2001).
Are you looking for future classics in garden literature? Here are a few more recent publications.
Because of an Acorn by Lola Schaefer and Adam Schaefer, illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon (2016). This book illustrates the circle of life in a forest, starting with an acorn. JMG
Award. Ages 2 to 5
Lola Plants a Garden by Anna McQuinn (2014). Lola plans her garden, plants seeds, and waits. She makes a scrapbook, and when the garden is ready, she decorates it and invites friends. Ages 2 to 5
The Thing About Bees: A Love Letter by Shabazz Larkin (2019). “Fear not” is the message of this joyous love letter to the author’s sons about the importance of bees. Bold illustrations add to this book’s read-aloud appeal. JMG Award. Ages 3 to 8+
Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal (2015). Gardening through the seasons examining life above and below ground; part of a
series. Ages 3 to 8
Bea’s Bees by Katherine Pryor, illustrated by Ellie Peterson (2019). Bea inspires her school and community to plant flowers needed by bees. Ages 3 to 8
The Garden Next Door by Collin Pine; illustrated by Tiffany Everett (2022). Kids ask, “Why is the garden next door full of birds, bees, and butterflies?” JMG Award. Ages 3 to 8
A Seed is Sleepy by Diana Hutts Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long (2007). Exceptionally beautiful, labeled illustrations of seeds; poetic quality; part of a series of six nature books, some with garden themes. JMG Award. Ages 3 to 10
We Are the Gardeners by Joanna Gaines, illustrated by Julianna Swaney (2019). Emphasizes the importance of persistence and hard work with wonderful results. JMG Award. Ages 4 to 8
Honey Bee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Eric Rohmann (2020). The life of the European honey bee with an engaging storyline and beautifully detailed illustrations. Multiple awards. Ages 4 to 9
Grandma Lisa’s Humming, Buzzing, Chirping Garden by Lisa Doseff, illustrated by Duncan Robertson (2021). A rhyming story of a garden of native plants with pollinators and birds in
mind. Ages 5 to 10
For budding ecologists, consider these books about and by scientists:
In the Garden with Dr. Carver (a story about George Washington Carver’s work) by Susan Grigsby, illustrated by Nicole Tadgell (2010). A fictionalized visit to an Alabama town teaching about soil, sweet potatoes, and peanuts. JMG Award. Ages 6 to 9+
Rachel Carson and Her Book That Changed the World by Laurie Lawlor, illustrated by Laura Beingessner (2012). The story of Rachel Carson and her groundbreaking book, Silent Spring. All of nature is connected and the dangers of pesticides. Ages 6 to 9+
Karl, Get Out of the Garden! Carolus Linnaeus and the Naming of Everything by Anita Sanchez, illustrated by Catherine Stock (2017). Story of a Swedish boy born in 1707 who grew up with a garden obsession and developed the scientific system of categorizing all living things. JMG Award. Ages 7 to 10
The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian’s Art Changed Science by Joyce Sidman (2018). In the mid-1600s, a young Dutch girl began studying and drawing insects, becoming the first to understand the process of butterfly metamorphosis. Ages 11 to 14
Nature’s Best Hope (Young Readers’ Edition): How You Can Save the World in Your Own Yard by Doug Tallamy, adapted by Sarah Thomson (2023). A youth version of a groundbreaking book on the leading edge of a garden and landscaping movement. Ages 10 to 14+
If You Plant a Seed by Kadir Nelson (2015). With only a few words, the expressive paintings tell the story: sowing and caring for the seeds in the garden, choices made about sowing seeds of selfishness or seeds of kindness, and ending with the joys of sharing. JMG Award. All ages 3+
There is an ethos that binds gardeners. Working with nature, seasons, soil, water, and pollinators; sharing knowledge, seeds, cuttings, plants, and produce; and environmental stewardship. These children’s books reflect those values, especially this final recommendation in which a vision of the gardener’s ethos comes alive.
This article recently appeared in the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Warren County’s newsletter Warren County Connection. Learn more about the organization and sign up to receive the newsletter here.
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