Garden Mystery


Children - Adventure
32 Pages
Reviewed on 04/11/2023
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    Book Review

Reviewed by Kim Zoby for Readers' Favorite

Garden Mystery by Rachelle Jones Smith is an adorable children’s storybook about horticulture and the challenges of achieving a good harvest. In this story, we follow Lil Bit, a young boy who enjoys spending school breaks with his grandparents as they tend their garden. Something strange is happening to Grandpa’s garden. Together Poppy and Lil Bit search the garden area for clues. With a list of possible causes in mind, Lil Bit dreams he is a private investigator on a case to find the culprit and eradicate the problem. The following day, Lil Bit learns about the steps necessary for planting a garden and composting waste and sees the rewards of a hard day's work.

Garden Mystery is a creative way for parents to teach their children the basics of gardening and how the food we eat is grown. The illustrations are bright and colorful, blending pictures perfectly with the story. The depiction of a nighttime storm is both beautiful and amusing. In preparing this review, I invited my grandchildren over to help plant my herb garden. We started the day by reading the book together and finished with tomato sandwiches. My 3-year-old grandchild laughed so hard at the character's dream sequence and later acted out a garden investigation. Her older sister and I used Rachelle Jones Smith's directions and began preparing our spring garden by raking the soil and preparing our rows. This book is a hit with our family and will be a welcome addition to our library.