Benjamin Grows a Garden - (Benjamin Outdoors) by Melanie Florence (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Readers follow along step-by-step as Benjamin plants and cares for his garden and imagines the harvest to come.

Benjamin loves springtime. The grass grows bright green, the birds sing sweet songs and, best of all, Benjamin and his mother start their garden. In just the right order, they plant mahtâmin (corn), pîmiciwacis (beans), and osawipak (squash) for Three Sisters Soup. They plant strawberries to serve with bannock, then zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers. Benjamin and his mom lovingly tend to the garden and watch it grow into a plentiful harvest with enough to share. Throughout the whole summer, Benjamin dreams about the fall, when they'll have all the ingredients for a feast - and everyone will be invited!

In this heartwarming story, award-winning author Melanie Florence evocatively portrays the pleasures and rewards of growing and sharing food. The steps of the gardening process - digging holes, planting seeds, watering - are carefully described, and the yearly cycle of growing, harvesting, eating and then starting again the next year is emphasized. Special attention is paid to the tradition of planting corn, beans and squash together so that each plant by its nature helps the others grow. Benjamin and his mother use Cree words throughout the story, and a pronunciation guide is included at the back of the book for further inquiry. Vivid illustrations by Hawlii Pichette make this a perfect follow-up to the author and illustrator duo's previous book, Benjamin's Thunderstorm.

Review Quotes

Ideal for young children, Benjamin's Thunderstorm, a graphically, linguistically (Cree and English) and lyrically rich narrative, is a winning piece of contemporary realistic fiction...--CM Magazine (Praise for Benjamin's Thunderstorm)

Presented in a lovely picture book format, the story of young Benjamin and his love of nature is a wonderful tale well told.--Children's Literature (Praise for Benjamin's Thunderstorm)

About the Author

Melanie has been writing full-time since 2010 and has written a bunch of books, but she's probably best known for her picture books Missing Nimama, which won the 2016 TD Canadian Children's Literature Award, and Stolen Words, which won the 2018 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award. In her spare time, Melanie plays guitar, reads manga, collects vinyl, listens to really loud rock music and slightly quieter K-pop, gets tattoos and drinks too much coffee. She lives in Toronto with her family.
Hawlii Pichette is a Mushkego Cree (Treaty 9) urban mixed-blood artist and illustrator. Born and raised in the small community of Cochrane, Ontario, she is deeply influenced by her culture, upbringing and the natural world. She lives in London, Ontario.