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lakesbecky's review against another edition
4.0
All year, Billy helps his grandpa in the vegetable garden.
This is the delightful story of Billy and his grandpa in the vegetable garden. It takes you and your child through the seasons as there are different jobs to do depending on the time of year. It starts in winter when all seems dead and finishes with the autumn harvest.
The illustrations are bright and colourful and the story not too complicated. When it ends then there are tips for planting your own vegetable garden and each season has its own list of Grandpa's tips and jobs.
This book is therefore not just a story but also a gardening guide for children. This makes the price of £5.99 a very good one.
Read more: http://beckywilloughby.blogspot.com/2012/05/monday-book-review-barefoot-books.html#ixzz2Rt0DVnGf
This is the delightful story of Billy and his grandpa in the vegetable garden. It takes you and your child through the seasons as there are different jobs to do depending on the time of year. It starts in winter when all seems dead and finishes with the autumn harvest.
The illustrations are bright and colourful and the story not too complicated. When it ends then there are tips for planting your own vegetable garden and each season has its own list of Grandpa's tips and jobs.
This book is therefore not just a story but also a gardening guide for children. This makes the price of £5.99 a very good one.
Read more: http://beckywilloughby.blogspot.com/2012/05/monday-book-review-barefoot-books.html#ixzz2Rt0DVnGf
stefhyena's review
3.0
This book is beautifully presented and has a lot going for it appearance wise. I liked the fact it went through all the seasons and harped on about the amount of waiting involved in a garden. All of this is both realistic and worth mentioning. I liked the ideas of continuity and time in the grandfather and grandson, in the seeds, in the seasons (history, science, as well as literacy and numeracy connections) and gardening is a health and sustainability topic anyway. So I don't regret buying the book.
The purple prose always irritates me every time I read this book aloud. I don't always hate similes. I only hate them when they are too big for their context, when they distract from the myriad other things that are happening, when they are unnecessary and awkward. I give Fry the benefit of the doubt and assume she adds similes about the sky to try to show the change and contrast of seasons. But the similes are not anchored to anything (though they retain a gardening theme) and they add noting apart from a sort of preciousness. I don't like them at all and they very nearly ruined what is otherwise a beautiful book as well.
I suspect it is trying to proselytize as well but I forgive it that as one forgives beautiful books and people for being a little too opinionated. The colours and the thick cover wrap you up and suck you in. Beauty is the main impression.
The purple prose always irritates me every time I read this book aloud. I don't always hate similes. I only hate them when they are too big for their context, when they distract from the myriad other things that are happening, when they are unnecessary and awkward. I give Fry the benefit of the doubt and assume she adds similes about the sky to try to show the change and contrast of seasons. But the similes are not anchored to anything (though they retain a gardening theme) and they add noting apart from a sort of preciousness. I don't like them at all and they very nearly ruined what is otherwise a beautiful book as well.
I suspect it is trying to proselytize as well but I forgive it that as one forgives beautiful books and people for being a little too opinionated. The colours and the thick cover wrap you up and suck you in. Beauty is the main impression.
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