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Children's Nonfiction Farm & Ranch Life

Good Garden, The

How One Family Went from Hunger to Having Enough

by (author) Katie Smith Milway

illustrated by Sylvie Daigneault

Publisher
Kids Can Press
Initial publish date
Sep 2010
Category
Farm & Ranch Life, Gardening, Cooking & Food, General
Recommended Age
8 to 12
Recommended Grade
3 to 7
Recommended Reading age
8 to 12
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781554534883
    Publish Date
    Sep 2010
    List Price
    $19.99
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781525304064
    Publish Date
    Apr 2020
    List Price
    $14.99

Classroom Resources

Download Teacher’s Guide

Where to buy it

Description

From the best-selling author of One Hen comes the inspiring story of one struggling farming family in Honduras and their journey to growing enough food to meet their needs. Based on the real story of farm transformation underway in Honduras and many other countries, this book offers children ways they can be part of the movement to grow "good gardens" and foster food security.

Eleven-year-old María Luz and her family live on a small farm. This year their crop is poor, and they may not have enough to eat or to sell for other essentials, such as health care, school uniforms and books.

When María's father must leave home to find work, she is left in charge of their garden. Then a new teacher comes to María's school and introduces her to sustainable farming practices that yield good crops. As María begins to use the same methods at home, she too sees improvements, which allow her family to edge their way out of the grip of the greedy “coyotes” --- the middlemen who make profits on the backs of poor farmers. Little by little, the farms --- and the hopes --- of María and her neighbors are transformed as good gardens begin to grow.

About the authors

Katie Smith Milway is the bestselling, award-winning author of One Hen and several other books in the CitizenKid collection. She has served on the board of World Vision US, coordinated community development programs in Latin America and Africa for Food for the Hungry International, written several adult books on sustainable development, and advised NGOs and social impact funders in her roles at The Bridgespan Group, MilwayPLUS and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A graduate of Stanford University and INSEAD, Katie has spent more than three decades working on sustainable development issues. She is based in Seattle, Washington, and Bowen Island, British Columbia. Free curriculum related to One Hen themes can be found at www.onehen.org.

Katie Smith Milway's profile page

Sylvie Daigneault, an award-winning commercial artist and author-illustrator originating from Montreal, Quebec, enjoyed painting and drawing from a young age. She studied at Montreal’s École des Beaux-Arts and her works were featured at a variety of venues and galleries before she began focusing on her passion for children's illustration using coloured pencil. She has illustrated fifteen books, most memorably the Bruno series, The Good Garden, which won several awards and accolades, and Sarah Saw a Blue Macaw. Sylvie currently resides in Toronto, Ontario.

Sylvie Daigneault's profile page

Awards

  • Short-listed, Alberta Children's Choice Rocky Mountain Book Award
  • Winner, Best Children's Books of the Year, Bank Street Children's Book Committee
  • Winner, Skipping Stones Honor Award, Skipping Stones Magazine
  • Winner, Best Books for Kids & Teens, Canadian Children's Book Centre
  • Winner, Best Bets Nonfiction, Ontario Library Association

Editorial Reviews

Taken at a literal level, this is a story of how sustainable farming practices can nourish families and the earth simultaneously. On a deeper level, it is about social justice and self-sustaining economies, which make this a book that can span a broader interest level. The stylized colored-pencil artwork is appropriately lush and idealized.—School Library Journal

More about food security and sustainable farming closes this moving, informative entry in the publisher's CitizenKid line ...—Booklist

Though the text is not simple, the appealing design will support less able readers.—Kirkus Reviews

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