We Are the Gardeners by Joanna Gaines and Kids, illustrated by Julianna Swaney (Tommy Nelson 2019) takes a reader step-by-step through the process of building up a family garden by starting small. The four children narrate their process toward creating their beautiful garden, with an emphasis that making a garden requires lots of trying, failing, and trying again. Their first plants died because they were too loving (they overwatered it!).
We Are the Gardeners emphasizes planning and learning about plants. Then the children explain the needs of a garden, such as good dirt and water. After the seeds are in the ground, the children work hard at weeding and protecting the yard from their goats by putting in a fence. The children also teach about the garden helpers, such as ladybugs to eat the aphids, bees to help flowers blossom, and earthworms to improve the soil.
Throughout the gardening process, the children share the lessons they learned that can be applied to life. They emphasize that they had to persist when things are hard or don’t work out well the first time. They share how being successful required being brave and trying something new. They acknowledge that they had to take responsibility. It was hard but worth it.
Adorable and bright watercolor show the gorgeous growing garden, in addition to their growing family. Just as the cover illustration shows the children the size of the flowers and surrounded by their garden, the illustrations seem to bring the reader into the garden. It is such a gorgeous book and simply perfect for a lesson on gardens or simply for inspiration in making your own garden.
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