A Garden Called Home
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
What makes the place we live feel like home? This is a warm-hearted and lush picture book about family, the immigrant experience and how a simple garden can foster a connection to the larger natural world.
Mama was born in a country far away from here. I love her stories about warm rain in winter and green mountains. And now Mama's taking me there!
When a young girl and her mother go to visit her family, the girl notices a change. At home, her mother mostly stays inside. Here, her mother likes to explore and go hiking. The girl has never seen her so happy! Her mother tells her about the trees, bushes, flowers and birds. Did you know that tree roots make mountains strong? And that ài hāo (mugwort) is used to make delicious, sweet dumplings?
But her mother's smile goes away when they return home. It's cold and she doesn't want to go outside. She goes back to wearing her big quilted jackets and watering her houseplants.
How can the girl show her mother that nature here can be wondrous too?
Includes a glossary of plants with Mandarin/English words.
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In this tender familial narrative, a child works to make a garden in a snowy place whose climate differs from Mama's homeland. Though they've never visited it, the unnamed child narrator knows that "the summers there are hot and humid, and the winters are filled with warm rain." And, indeed, the air is "thick and heavy" when the two travel there to visit Mama's sister. The siblings share a long hug when reunited, and Mama, who becomes more talkative, takes long hikes with her child and reveals abundant knowledge of plants, animals, and the environment—names that the child repeats in Mandarin. Back at home in the snowy winter, Mama reverts to her reclusive self, prompting the child to learn—and teach—how "nature here can be wondrous too." Lee's lovable characters, portrayed with pale skin and dark hair, organically introduce the natural world into the story line, and Chen's digitally edited gouache illustrations depict the impact of getting to know its diversity. A glossary concludes. Ages 3–7.
