| ________________
CM . . . . Volume XVII Number 38 . . . . June 3, 2011
excerpt:
The companion title to Up We Grow!, Watch Me Grow! focuses on growing food in small spaces in the city. Food can be grown anywhere that has soil, and so city dwellers must be inventive as to where they plant their gardens. In Vancouver, the setting of this book, people grow food in front and back yards, vacant lots, on rooftops, boulevards, and in container pots on fire escapes, balconies, patios and window sills. Some people even keep chickens or honeybees. City gardens can also be home to several other small animals- insects, birds, squirrels and earthworms. Sometimes people even plant specific types of flowers in their vegetable plots in order to attract helpful insects such as bees and butterflies. Watch Me Grow! will be of great value in a primary classroom, perhaps as part of a science unit on the life cycle of a plant (e.g. growing bean plants) or to serve as inspiration for schools that are starting their own small gardens. The text is simple for children to comprehend and is enhanced by abundant colour photographs taken from a variety of vantage points and featuring people of different ages and races working together for a common goal. Recommended. Gail Hamilton is Library Learning Resources Consultant at the Instructional Resources Unit, Manitoba Department of Education, in Winnipeg, MB.
To comment
on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.
Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal
use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any
other reproduction is prohibited without permission.
NEXT REVIEW |
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE
- June 3, 2011.
AUTHORS |
TITLES |
MEDIA REVIEWS |
PROFILES |
BACK ISSUES |
SEARCH |
CMARCHIVE |
HOME |
In Watch Me Grow!, readers learn about the sequence of growing food, from planting, tending, harvesting and eating it, to sharing it with others or saving it for later use by means of canning, freezing, pickling and preserving. The advantages of community gardens are highlighted, with the notion of growing food almost becoming secondary to the importance of creating a sense of community. In some areas, people get together to harvest apples, eat a meal or prepare food in community kitchens. Throughout the book are woven the messages of respect for nature, the benefits of fresh, nutritious food, and the importance of community spirit. The last page of the book explains a rapidly expanding social movement known as “urban agriculture” whose benefits include the creation of green space, beauty, a home for wildlife, and a connection with nature. This social movement is educational, not only in that it teaches kids how to grow their own food and where food comes from, but also in that it teaches children earth-friendly practices, such as composting, mulching, water conservation and the use of natural fertilizers and pest management.