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Who's
in
the
Garden?
illustrated by Jill
McDonald
Barefoot Books, 2010
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* Booktrust
Early Years Award
2010:
Shortlisted for Best
Book for babies under
one year old
*
Smithsonian's
2010 Notable Books for
Children
*
Recommended
for summer reading
2011:
Seattle's Mockingbird
Books and Cafe
* The New
York Times
Spring Board Book
Roundup, 2012
* Paperback
edition
* French board
book edition
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| From
the book jacket: |
Who's coming
to see
how my garden grows?
Peek
through
the
holes
to
see
what creatures are busy in the
garden.
There are moles dig-dig-digging,
rabbits hop-hop-hopping and
frogs leap-leap-leaping in every
corner.
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| A
little about the book: |
This is my first peek-a-boo book. I
didn't plan it that way, but I do
love peek-a-boo books! The surprise
is always a thrill, and looking for
the surprise is a great visual
exercise.
Speaking of visual "literacy," one
of the many wonderful things about a
picture book is that you can return
to an image at will. It won't vanish
from view at the speed of film. How
nice to take your time, explore,
savor, repeat the experience over
and over, AND discover more and more
as you keep looking. The artist of Who's in the
Garden, Jill McDonald,
created a zillion fun things to stop
and look at in her garden
wonderland.
The idea for this book actually
began with an activity song David
and I wrote (I'll post the tune here
once I figure out how!).
Meanwhile, the words:
Who’s
coming to see how my garden grows
my
garden grows, my garden grows?
Who’s
coming to see how my garden grows?
Rabbits
hop-hop-hopping
between the rows!
Children could keep the song going,
adding more garden animals "between
the rows," the ones in the
book--plus. Examples:
Inchworms inch-inch-inching between
the rows.
Grasshoppers jump-jump-jumping
between the rows.
Lizards dart-dart-darting between
the rows.
Fireflies flit-flit-flitting between
the rows.
Activities for getting up and moving
around:
Children form two lines, facing each
other. The child at the head of each
line takes the part of the animal
named, and hops, skips, jumps down
the middle with his/her partner,
then take his/her place at the end
of each line.
OR sitting
in one place for storytime: hand motions
could describe the action: creeping,
digging, flying.
In a choral performance, part of the
group could sing the questions, and
the rest of the group could sing the
response.
As a possible playlet, there are
plenty of parts for gardeners,
hoppers, leapers, crawlers....
Creating the props would be fun too.
Jill's use of patchwork and collage
offer some good clues on how to make
a memorable environment for the
action.
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| From
the reviews:
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"With oversize die-cuts on every other
page, this look at a young girl’s
backyard garden allows children to
play peekaboo and guess who as they
encounter on the next spread, the
bees, birds and frogs that live there.
McDonald’s occasionally whimsical
mixed-media collages are engaging,
colorful and busy with detail, and
Gershator’s simple rhyming
question-and-answer text is appealing
and age appropriate, making this a
nice introduction to outdoor critters
for young children." The
New York Times online
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