"I Heard It From Alice Zucchini"

Today I am foregoing my usual ABC Wednesday post to join another group for this week--a book review collection hosted by Barrie Summy each month. (Technically, I guess this might qualify for this week's ABC letter G since I'm writing about a gardening book, but that might get a little confusing.) When I posted a review last month about a delightful book I had just finished, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Sarah Lawrence commented that I might want to join Barrie for her new monthly "meeting" of book reviewers. Sarah frequently reviews books on her posts, reviews accompanied by gorgeous photos that always seem to illustrate the novel's plot and themes perfectly. A book club meeting each month--one that I don't have to dress up for or have to read a prescribed book--sounded like an ideal opportunity to me.


This past month has been extremely busy for me, with my grandchildren here for awhile, my father's hospitalization, and more than my usual days of substitute teaching. I'm currently reading Elizabeth George's Careless in Red, which I mentioned in the earlier review, but I can't very well review a book I haven't finished, can I? So my contribution this month is a book that doesn't take long to read at all, but one that can be read and enjoyed over and over again.


While searching for a gardening book online one day, I came across a children's book entitled I Heard it from Alice Zucchini. Now with a title like that, wouldn't you be intrigued? I certainly was and, after reading some reviews of it, decided to purchase it to share with my grandchildren.


I Heard it from Alice Zucchini is subtitled Poems about the Garden and is just that--a delightful collection of children's poems related to the garden. The poems range from the humorous, like "Garden Gossip," from which the title comes, to the fanciful fairy tale-like story of "Sweet Cicely and the Bee." There is even a "Garden Lullaby" with soothing images perfect for a bedtime reading. My favorite is probably "Blue Moon Over the Garden," which is full of appealing imagery:

". . . Sleeping vegetables wake and yawn.
It's June and the night of the second moon.
Crickets tune their violins in anticipation.
Tomatoes bounce down pole-bean twine.
Cucumbers tumble in green clown suits.
A choir of celery burst into song . . ."

When I ordered the book, I was expecting a collection of humorous poems, ala Shel Silverstein, but the poems are not all humorous, and the author, Juanita Havill, has her own unique style. There are no alien-looking kohlrabi (like those from my garden to the right), but there are chanting pea pods, dancing dill weeds, and a "Rhubarb Forest." Children will enjoy the rhyme and rhythm, especially the catchy tune of "Vegetable Stew."



The book is beautifully illustrated by Christine Davenier, and children will delight in finding the fairy who appears on every page. The author Juanita Havill has written more than thirty books for children and is decribed as "an avid gardener [who] readily confesses to talking with her plants--even with the weeds." I think all my gardening friends can relate to this!



I'm a firm believer in introducing children to poetry at a young age, and this book is an appealing way to develop an early appreciation of poetry. For my garden blogging friends, while this book may not fit on your reference shelf, it would make an excellent gift for a young grandchild, niece/nephew, or godchild. It might even encourage them to look in your garden for some "weedling seedlings" or "Princess Asparagus"!



And the best part is . . .

. . .This book has been kid-tested!