Count the ways two hands, three days cleaning up, four planter boxes, and many more steps show how city neighbors transform one little abandoned lot into a beautiful community garden. - (Baker & Taylor)
Diverse neighbors in a bustling urban community unite to clean up an abandoned lot, where they pull weeds, build planter boxes and plant seeds to create a bountiful vegetable garden that helps strangers become friends. Illustrations. - (Baker & Taylor)
In a bustling, urban neighborhood, count the ways one little lot becomes a beautiful community vegetable garden.
Count all the ways (one to ten) an urban community unites to clean up an abandoned lot. From building planter boxes to pulling weeds to planting seeds, everyone works together to transform the lot into a bountiful vegetable garden. As the garden grows, strangers become friends, eventually sharing in a special feast with the harvest they grew. - (Random House, Inc.)
Diane C. Mullen is a Minneapolis-based writer, filmmaker, arts educator, and mother of two grown kids. She earned her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University. Diane enjoys cycling everywhere around her beloved city; tending a plot in the Soo Line Community Garden; and working at the renowned Walker Art Center. She is the author of the middle grade novel, Tagged and the picture book, One Little lot: The 1-2-3s of an Urban Garden.
Oriol Vidal is an illustrator of many books for children, including the Time Jumpers and Hello Genius series. He is also a storyboard artist. Oriol lives in Barcelona, Spain. www.oriolvidal.es - (Random House, Inc.)
Publishers Weekly Reviews
Inspired by the Soo Line Community Garden in Minneapolis, where Mullen has gardened for years, her debut employs a counting framing device paired with a refrain of "hungry honeybees buzz..." to share a community garden's origin story. A chance visit by passersby ("two helping hands") galvanizes a neighborhood into cleaning up "one little" abandoned lot. Step by step, the group installs raised beds "in a straight, lovely line," plants "six plentiful seed packets," and harvests "nine prized plants," including bok choy, cucumbers, and kittley. "One little lot is full of delicious!" reads the penultimate spread, which portrays a bustling community dinner. Webcomic-style characters appear diverse, and Vidal's intricate digital and mixed-media backdrops and aerial shots, representing the honeybees' point of view, offer the small garden a warmly expansive feel. Back matter includes an author's note, facts about honeybees, and steps to improve one's own garden for bees. Ages 3–7. (Mar.)
Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly.