Keep Our World Green: Why Humans Need Gardens, Parks and Public Green Spaces

Written by Frieda Wishinsky

Illustrated by Sara Theuerkauf

Orca Book Publishers

978-1-459838383

96 pp.

Ages 9-12

For release May 13, 2025

 

Tomorrow is Earth Day 2025 and, though Keep Our World Green will not be released for a few more weeks, it's appropriate to speak to the book's messaging about conservation and protection of green spaces and their importance for our physical health, mental health and community.

As long as you have a garden, you have a future, and as long as you have a future, you are alive. ~ Frances Hodgson Burnett

Frieda Wishinsky starts her book with a look at the history of green spaces, whether they be when our ancestors moved from hunting and gathering to growing their own food, or the establishment of gardens. She highlights particular historic ones like the ancient gardens of Egypt and Japan to the classic gardens of Padua and Versailles and gardens from the 20th century, and their value in protecting diversity and endangered species, and in the development of medicines and in celebrating religious beliefs.

From Keep Our World Green: Why Humans Need Gardens, Parks and Public Green Spaces, written by Frieda Wishinsky, illustrated by Sara Theuerkauf

Next, Frieda Wishinsky delves into green spaces of parks that are known for their beauty, from Central Park in New York City to Vietnam's Cat Ba National Park in Vietnam.

From Keep Our World Green: Why Humans Need Gardens, Parks and Public Green Spaces, written by Frieda Wishinsky, illustrated by Sara Theuerkauf

We may get solace and nourishment from these spaces but they also inspire creativity from visual artists, musicians, and writers. There is the famous art of Claude Monet, Frida Kahlo, and Georgia O'Keefe, and the words of poets and storytellers from Henry David Thoreau to E. B. White. Composers like Vivaldi found inspiration in nature as did contemporary musicians like Joni Mitchell and Michael Jackson.

From Keep Our World Green: Why Humans Need Gardens, Parks and Public Green Spaces, written by Frieda Wishinsky, illustrated by Sara Theuerkauf

But our green spaces, both natural and created, are in danger. From our use of chemicals to land development and climate change, our green spaces and their elements, like the bees and birds, are challenged. Frieda Wishinsky has some suggestions for young people as to how they might help based on how others have heeded the call for conservation and environmental protection. Whether you start small with cuttings or planting your own or a community garden, there is always something that a young person, and the adults around them, can do to help keep our world green.

From Keep Our World Green: Why Humans Need Gardens, Parks and Public Green Spaces, written by Frieda Wishinsky, illustrated by Sara Theuerkauf

Frieda Wishinsky presents a varied but comprehensive look at green spaces, whether created by landscape architects, humble home gardeners or the natural world. She celebrates their beauty and their virtues, recognizes their role in keeping us happy, enlightened and healthy, and inspires us to ensure their longevity and security. It's a big order to include all those aspects in a book on green spaces but Frieda Wishinsky, a lover of gardens and parks and natural spaces (see for example, A Flower is a Friend), gives readers enough to whet their interest and how to find more information. (A list of resources is provided.)

 

While many photographs of people and places are used to support the text, Vancouver's Sara Theuerkauf provides illustrations of people and places. She ensures that these green spaces are bustling with life, whether it be of the wild variety, of the humans enjoying the space, or of the green life that exudes its own spirit. 

Depending on where you live, spring may be budding out or imminent, and hopefully we'll all be thinking about what we can do to celebrate the green spaces at home and abroad, and to ensure they are with us for a long, long time. Frieda Wishinsky encourages readers to see the green spaces, to acknowledge their power and importance, and to take actions, even in humble and little steps, to make sure those much-needed gardens, parks and public green spaces continue to flourish and be lauded for what they offer.

 

And Then the Seed Grew

Written and illustrated by Marianne Dubuc

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-0207-7

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

September 2019

Above ground, a seed falls onto the soil and, observed by a green sprite and a gnome, begins to grow. But its impact below ground is as impressive as what the world sees sprouting above for And Then the Seed Grew is as much about a plant's life cycle as it is about community.

From And Then the Seed Grew by Marianne Dubuc

In a garden above ground live little Jack and Mr. Gnome, though the inhabitants below ground–Yvonne the mole, the Field Mouse family, Paulie the earthworm and Colette the ant–often make their way up there too. When a new seed begins to grow, it sends its root into the bathroom of the mole's home–she has a multi-chamber abode–and blocks Colette's path. Though Yvonne sets to work with her tools to repair the damage, the root continues to grow, repeatedly blocking the ants' paths and even interrupting Susie's birthday party at the Field Mouse home.

The below-ground animals are not pleased with the changes they have to make and are exhausted in trying to deal with the encroaching plant. Yvonne can no longer use her bathroom, the Field Mouse family have to move and the ants are dizzy with the detours they've had to make. Even Mr. Gnome is impacted by the growth of the plant's stem and leaves and now yellow flowers, all virtually trapping him in his house. At an emergency meeting, they agree to cut the plant down. That is, until little Jack helps them see the plant's value in shade, in sight lines and in its newly formed fruit.

From And Then the Seed Grew by Marianne Dubuc

Teachers will find And Then the Seed Grew a charming way to teach a plant's life cycle. From the breaking of the seed coat to the first root and leaves to the flowers and fruit and then seed again, young readers will learn about how a plant grows. And though there are supernatural elements–I have yet to see a sprite or gnome around my tomato plants–there are important lessons about the interrelationship of living things and the complexity of ecosystems below ground. Marianne Dubuc's cutaway illustrations make a segment of the natural world, albeit a fantastic one, up-close and revelatory. But there is so much more to And Then the Seed Grew than just a science lesson.

Marianne Dubuc's story, originally published in French as Le jardin de Jaco (2018),  does much to support Ralph Waldo Emerson's idea that a weed is but a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered. All the creatures of this community are feeling the impact of a new arrival, so different than anything they've known, but they all benefit from its presence, not the least of which is the building of that community to one of friendships. I know it's just a tomato plant and just a few mythical and some earthly creatures, but And Then the Seed Grew could be an allegory of accepting new members into our community who may be unfamiliar and even initially unsettling because of our own perceptions of their impacts. But, the creatures of And Then the Seed Grew recognize in time that with tolerance comes fruitful blessings. It's a universal lesson of acceptance.

From And Then the Seed Grew by Marianne Dubuc

The Triumphant Tale of the House Sparrow

Written and illustrated by Jan Thornhill

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-006-4

44 pp.

Ages 9-12

April 2018

If Jan Thornhill's winning of the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award last fall for The Tragic Tale of the Great Auk (Groundwood, 2016) and Jess Keating's winning of the Blue Spruce award this week for Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2017) tell us anything, it is that picture books are as beloved for telling non-fiction as they are for entertaining young readers. With her newest, The Triumphant Tale of the House Sparrow, Jan Thornhill again tells a compelling story of natural history which informs as well as entices us to learn more.

Jan Thornhill's story of the small brown bird which lacks flamboyance but teems with adaptability is a tale of survival, unlike that of the bird of her earlier book, The Tragic Tale of the Great Auk. She begins by telling of the House Sparrow's Middle Eastern ancestor beginning to rely on grain as a food source and losing the need for migration. With the spread of agriculture, the House Sparrow was soon designated a pest for raiding fields and orchards and breeding far too quickly, aiding in its spread. The small bird became such a nuisance that bounties and laws were enacted to speed its elimination.

From The Triumphant Tale of the House Sparrow by Jan Thornhill

But migrating Europeans saw the House Sparrow as a resourceful reminder of home, and the bird was introduced to New York City in the 1800s and then across the country, multiplying far more than expected. Again the exploding population of House Sparrows coupled with its aggressive pursuit of grain pitted the House Sparrow lovers and haters against each other.

From The Triumphant Tale of the House Sparrow by Jan Thornhill

However, it is the actions of humans which have had the most impact on the House Sparrow, though not always intentionally. With the onset of the automobile and the decline of horses, fed with grain, the House Sparrow's populations began to diminish again, and perhaps more so because of changes we've implemented in home construction, in farming, in keeping cats as pets and even in how we eat. Whether these impacts alone explain the decline of the House Sparrow is not known completely. But, it is certain that as much as the little bird may be an omen of our negative impact on the environment, it continues to find ways to adapt and survive.

The Triumphant Tale of the House Sparrow may tell the bird's story of proliferation and decline as an piece of non-fiction, supplemented with  a map of the bird's global distribution, an illustrated life cycle and a glossary, but it's Jan Thornhill's telling of that story that is the most compelling. Told as a narrative and strengthened by Jan Thornhill's realistic illustrations, The Triumphant Tale of the House Sparrow gives us lessons in ecology and adaptation, in history and in the impact of humans on the environment, and will be a valuable addition to science classrooms and school libraries everywhere.

From The Triumphant Tale of the House Sparrow by Jan Thornhill

Mermaid Warrior Squad

Written by Karin Adams

Illustrated by Janine Carrington

James Lorimer & Co.

978-1-4594-1146-3

150 pp.

Ages 7-11

August 2017

When Dylan meets the friendly Coral at art camp, the two eleven-year-old girls seem destined to become partners.  They both love oceans and know a lot about the sea animals, perfect for an art camp themed as "Art Under the Sea." Even better, they come into the camp with different strengths:  Coral loves to draw and Dylan likes to write.  In fact, both had already created mermaid characters: Coral's is a tough-looking mermaid she calls Crash, the Mighty Mermaid Warrior, and Dylan's is a mermaid renegade named Driftwood whose mission it is to protect the oceans.  The two decide to merge their ideas and collaborate on a comic book in which the two mermaids become the Mermaid Warrior Squad.

From Mermaid Warrior Squad 

by Karin Adams

 illus. by Janine Carrington

While the two girls work on their project, as depicted in illustrator Janine Carrington's graphic insets of the two mermaids, they are also dealing with getting to know each other and their fellow campers.  Dylan loves having a friend–she's obviously a bit of an introvert–but she's having difficulties dealing with Coral's exuberance and tendency to get carried away with her efforts, silliness and volume.  The other campers include Lynn, another quiet girl; Ben, the annoying prankster; Jade and Sarina, the trendy girls; and decent guys Ryan and Lamar.  From this crew, Dylan and Coral contrive new characters like a dolphin-mermaid hybrid, the villain Captain Fishhead, the evil Seaweed Sisters, and Shark Dudes.  Their story is evolving but so is their friendship as Coral decides unilaterally on their skit for the camp's culminating performance and Dylan is compelled to stand up for herself. Ultimately, though, their friendship means more to Dylan than sitting back and watching Coral be humiliated, and she's there to rescue her friend, even if it need happen on stage.

Karin Adams's story approaches multiple themes of oceans and creating art as well as clashing personalities with humour and much insight.  It's obvious that, as much as they have common interests, Dylan and Coral have very different personalities.  Overcoming these differences so that they might work together and be supportive of each other is a key element of Mermaid Warrior Squad.  Just like their mermaid characters, the two girls' efforts are more impactful when they work together than when they are at odds with one another.  This is an important lesson for children who are often forced to work together in school and extracurricular activities.  Not every child is a Coral who wants to be at the heart of the action.  Some need to quietly work at the side in order to reach their full potential.  Though most people, including teachers, are extroverts who don't see the harm done by expecting all children to love group activities or being part of the rah-rah crowd, Mermaid Warrior Squad recognizes that children will find their own ways to be true to themselves, taking risks as they choose, and still make friends with those unlike themselves.  Strength comes from both being yourself and working with others, whether you have a mermaid tail or not.

Whether a child is heading to camp, dealing with making and keeping friends, understanding their own personality or one who loves oceans or comic books, Mermaid Warrior Squad is an entertaining light read that will engage those who are beyond early readers but might find much middle-grade fiction more daunting.  It's a nice little package of humour and lessons for middle-graders.