Spunky illustrations and playful, poetic text work in harmony to tell a story of empowerment. Young people encourage and lead their community in constructing a garden in the midst of city development. Includes Make Your World More Green, Notes on Bees and Butterflies.

While I personally like urban gardening picture books, I rarely buy them - they're not very relevant to my community. We're a cross between suburban and rural - a class may include kids who live and work on a farm, kids with chickens in the backyard, and kids who have never been out of town and don't know where eggs come from (ok, that's a little bit of an exaggeration because of the huge county fair, but close).

However, I love the illustrations and the theme of this one so much that I think I will be adding it.

A racially mixed group of kids and parents enjoy the green of fields, backyards, and gardens. But when trucks and diggers come to town and start construction, "Brown brown, dig the ground." soon the city takes over everything. Now the green is in spots and windows, and in empty lots. But can they go from brown and gray back to green? With a lot of hard work, the green grows once again, sandwiched between the city buildings.

Back matter includes inspiration for city gardens, suggestions for helping pollinators, and a butterfly craft.

Sonia Sanchez' illustrations show the joy and exuberance of a garden and the green that grows all around, as well as the hard work it takes to clear, dig, and maintain the space. I always feel that urban garden books don't really show how much work goes into the space, but I think this book does a good job of showing all the trash clean-up and the volume of people needed to get the garden going. The pages sing with color, greens, browns, even the yellows and grays of the city streets.

Verdict: An inspiring and poetic book, a great storytime choice, or a perfect pick for a garden program.

ISBN: 9780374327972; Published 2017 by Farrar Straus Giroux; Borrowed from another library in my consortium

This book shows the process of a city dwellers coming together to grow a community garden. It also shows how individuals can add plants to their lives even when they don't have backyard space (e.g., using a window ledge). It is a great message to share and with its rhyming verse, it is never didactic. The illustrations include all types of people (different ages, races, etc.), which is very fitting for a city and makes for a great book showing diversity. Brief back matter describes additional steps readers can take to be environmentally friendly. I could see this being a useful home, library, or classroom addition, especially in urban areas and/or for lessons around Earth Day. ( )