The Curious Garden

This is such a fabulous, beautiful book. The art is wonderful. The words are engaging. The message is uplifting. It's worth adding to your library. It has a similar feel to Something Is Growing and On Meadowview Street.

I just absolutely love this book. The illustrations are beautiful. Almost real and surreal at the same time. Well written and simple but with a strong message - community, caring for the environment, growth, spreading the good and passing it forward. We saw the author and he is just adorable. I love the books even more knowing that this guy wrote them and illustrated them. He is just hilarious and charming and really good with kids...hmmm.. wonder if he has a girlfriend...I digress. It really is a great book. Good for families and great in classrooms.His other books are also topnotch. Illustrations are what makes them great.

Whimsical and wonderful, this book is way more appealing to me than a lot of the cutsie kids books out there. It draws you in as the city transforms, page by page, from a dreary industrial wasteland into a beautiful urban oasis. The illustrations are edgy and beautifully done, leaving you wishing you were there. And all the while it's subtly teaching important values like showing what can happen when you take something "worthless" and give it new life, which I think is a crucial lesson within our throw-away society. It also reinforces the ideas of community, being eco-conscious, and commitment. I look forward to reading this to my daughter for years to come.

How perfect that this is coming out now to celebrate Spring! The story and the pictures made me want to share this with my gardening friends as well as the children in my life. Another great book beautifully illustrated by this author.

The "curious garden" is absolutely beautiful as it wends it's way around a drab, brown city. My 4 year old son (who also happens to be named Liam), loves pouring over the full spread illustrations of the garden. And I love the message of spreading a little green in the world.