Benjamin Grows a Garden

Written by Melanie Florence

Illustrated by Hawlii Pichette

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-0321-0

40 pp.

Ages 3–7

September 2025

 

Melanie Florence introduced us to Benjamin in Benjamin's Thunderstorm (2023), also illustrated by Hawlii Pichette, and we got to know the little boy who learns more about his Cree culture and language while partaking in ordinary activities like playing in the rain and listening to the thunder. By making connections with his Indigenous heritage, Benjamin's experiences are far richer and more meaningful. This time, in Benjamin Grows a Garden, it is spring, and the boy is back outside and enjoying preparing a garden with his mother.

From Benjamin Grows a Garden, written by Melanie Florence, illustrated by Hawlii Pichette

With spring birds accompanying their efforts, Benjamin and his mother prepare the soil for the seeds that will grow into a variety of fruits and vegetables that feed the family and their community. He's already anticipating the corn, beans, and squash that will go into Three Sisters Soup; the berries that will be served with bannock; and the zucchini, tomatoes, and pumpkins that will become stews and pies and salads. 

 

Into the rich tilled soil, Benjamin drops the corns seeds and waters them. Later on, when they have grown a bit, bean seeds are planted. And even later, the squash is planted, so that the corn supports the bean vines, and the squash beneath keeps the soil damp and cool.

From Benjamin Grows a Garden, written by Melanie Florence, illustrated by Hawlii Pichette

This is an impressive garden, diverse in its offerings and expansive in its magnitude. With sun and water and careful attention to the garden's needs, there is a bounty to enjoy and share.

  Benjamin loved springtime.

  Spring was when Benjamin and his mother planted 

their garden together and watched it grow. (pg. 29)

This book was released last fall, but I think it's a perfect time to think about the coming spring and the opportunities for making a garden. Many are perusing seed catalogues right now in preparation, and I suspect Benjamin's mother will be doing the same, unless she derives all her seeds from her own plants. But, more than just the planting of seeds, Benjamin and his mother partake in a traditional discussion of why they plant what they do and speaking Cree as they name that which is planted. (A "Pronunciation Guide" provided by Dr. Arok Wolvengrey of the First Nations University of Canada presents help with this vocabulary.) As such, Melanie Florence, award-winning author of Missing Nimâmâ (illustrated by François Thisdale, 2015) and Stolen Words (illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard, 2017), makes planting a garden more than just the mechanics of getting seeds into the ground. Melanie Florence makes it a bonding time for mother and son, and a preservation of culture, language, and tradition.

From Benjamin Grows a Garden, written by Melanie Florence, illustrated by Hawlii Pichette

Hawlii Pichette, the Mushkego Cree urban mixed-blood artist who illustrated the first Benjamin book, continues to support Melanie Florence's story with visuals while furthering the culture through her Woodland style of art. Hawlii Pichette may use digital tools to create her art, but she retains the distinct elements of bold colours, thick black outlines, and segmented interiors for vegetables, trees, shirts, and more. With her style and emphasis on Benjamin and his mother's work tending to the land, the organic connection is evident. There is a distinct warmth of relationship to nature and between family that comes through in Hawlii Pichette's illustrations.

From Benjamin Grows a Garden, written by Melanie Florence, illustrated by Hawlii Pichette

If land and opportunity presents, now is the time to start thinking about planting a garden in the spring. Whether you and your children follow in the traditions of Benjamin and many Indigenous Peoples in the planting of corn, beans, and squash, or consider the countless other fruits and vegetables that might be grown from seeds, your bounty will include far beyond a mouthful of food.

 

• • • • • • • 

Benjamin's Thunderstorm (2023)

Benjamin Grows a Garden (2025)

Bunny Loves Beans

Written by Jane Whittingham

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-301-8

24 pp.

Ages 2-5

April 2024

 

Concept books tend to be simple because they are trying to push learning of a new concept like the alphabet or numbers. But Jane Whittingham has taken concept books to a new level with Bunny Loves Beans, giving our young children a book about colours, foods, and animals. And it's all told with loads of bold and colourful photographs. Bunny Loves Beans, in Pajama Press's trademark padded hardcover with rounded corners and extra-heavy paper, will be a pleasure to read over and over and over again as those little ones learn new concepts and become encouraged to read for themselves.

From Bunny Loves Beans by Jane Whittingham

 In a series of double-page spreads of photographs of animals and children with foods, Jane Whittingham, whose earlier picture books include Wild One, Queenie Quail Can't Keep Up and A Good Day For Ducks, introduces a colour, always in bold font, and an animal, also in bold font, before connecting to the child, with the emphasis on the word "me." The pattern to the text, as well as the emphasis on only colours, the animal and the child will allow the young reader to pick up on the concepts being introduced so that they may ultimately connect words they hear with words they see. It's very clever and multilayered without the confusion that can arise with melding too many concepts together. Moreover, by using sensory words with which children will be familiar, like sweet, crunchy, squishy and drippy, the concept learning becomes even better embedded.

From Bunny Loves Beans by Jane Whittingham

The colours taught are orange, gold, white, black, pink, yellow, blue, red, and green, and the animals associated with the foods of those colours are the groundhog, bee, monkey, fox, puppy, parakeet, chipmunk, pony, and bunny. With an overlying message of healthy food being colourful and good for everyone, Jane Whittingham's Bunny Loves Beans teaches a lot.

Healthy colors,

vibrant colors,

Yummy in my tummy colors– 

Colors for the animals,

And colors for me!

From Bunny Loves Beans by Jane Whittingham

Bunny Loves Beans is a great introduction to colours and foods and to show children that they are connected to other animals who also partake in those healthy foods. Better yet, even if the child can't read yet, the learning can be reinforced independently by using the endpapers which depict various colours with foods, some in addition to those in the main text, to help them make those same connections. Bunny Love Beans will teach the concepts but also encourage little ones to start reading by making connections with words, colours, foods, and animals, and always relate it back to them. If they didn't like beans or carrots before, they might just want to eat them now.

Julie and the Mango Tree

Written by Sadé Smith

Illustrated by Sayada Ramdial

Feiwel and Friends

978-1-250-80634-5

32 pp.

Ages 3-6

August 2023

 

Fresh fruits off the tree are a favourite all around the world. In August, many children in Canada will be craving peaches and cherries, while other parts of the world may be awaiting a crop of jackfruit or pineapples. Depending on the time of year and the location, there will be much anticipation for the first of favourite fruits to become available. For Julie in Jamaica, the time for her beloved mangoes can't come soon enough.

From Julie and the Mango Tree, written by Sadé Smith, illus. by Sayada Ramdial

Julie loved the way mangoes smelled and the way they looked and, of course, the way they tasted. But waiting for the mangoes to drop from the giant tree in her front yard was agony. Occasionally her father would climb up on a ladder to retrieve ripe ones from the top before they fell but, on one hot day when he was gone to town, Julie would have to wait for the tree to give up just one to her. But waiting was hard. When no mangoes were forthcoming, she tried to barter with the tree, plums for mangoes. Then she wrote a song pleading with the tree to give up a mango to her. Finally, she hugged the tree, all to no avail.

From Julie and the Mango Tree, written by Sadé Smith, illus. by Sayada Ramdial

But, when a rainstorm comes the next day, Julie finds the ground littered with her delicious mangoes. Finally, Julie could indulge in her mangoes, until she realizes she has a new problem.

From Julie and the Mango Tree, written by Sadé Smith, illus. by Sayada Ramdial

Though most of Julie and the Mango Tree is Julie waiting and hoping and anticipating the joy of biting into those juicy mangoes, Sadé Smith ensures that the child's experience with the fruit is paramount. For children, waiting can be so hard, whether it's for a birthday, a special treat, or the year's mango harvest. Julie's longing is honest but, like many, she will do whatever she can to dispel the delay, strategizing with good will, particularly for the tree. Not surprising that when she finds herself sated with mangoes, she looks outward to others and considers how she might share their fruity wealth. Author Sadé Smith, herself of Jamaican descent–her debut picture book Granny's Kitchen is also set in Jamaica–shows a child who is passionate about her mangoes but never selfish about the pleasure she derives from them.

 

Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, now of the United States, illustrator Sayada Ramdial gives us a Jamaica of colours, warmth, life, and, of course, mangoes. It's as if everything, from the mangoes and the leaves in the trees, to Julie and her neighbours, are touched with the sun and given a vivacity of place. I'll bet even Julie's mangoes are far tastier than any we've ever imagined.

The joy of picking fruit from a tree is a rare one for many but, in Julie and the Mango Tree, Sadé Smith lets us experience what Julie does and allows us to imagine what wishes fulfilled with a bounty of sunshine and sweetness could be like.

The Imperfect Garden

Written by Melissa Assaly

Illustrated by April dela Noche Milne

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

978-1-55455-408-9

36 pp.

Ages 4-8

2019

I know that it's still winter for many of us. Here in southern Ontario we have snow on the ground and below zero temperatures. But this is the time of year gardeners are perusing gardening catalogues and ordering seeds to germinate indoors or sketching out plans for their outdoor veggie gardens. Let Toronto's Melissa Assaly and Vancouver's April dela Noche Milne motivate you to start planning your own garden with The Imperfect Garden.

From The Imperfect Garden by Melissa Assaly, illus. by April dela Noche Milne

A child and his mother prepare a garden each spring, hopeful of growing their own food. In April they plant, and in June the first cucumbers are ready for picking. But Jay is fascinated by their shapes, so unlike the very straight cucumbers they see in the grocery stores. His mother explains that shoppers seem to prefer the straight ones so the unusually-shaped ones are thrown away.

In July, it's the carrots that are picked and again the child is intrigued by the odd shapes, so unlike those in the store, though they taste "crunchy and delicious." In August, it's apple-picking time and he delights in the assortment of colours and shapes. It doesn't matter what they look like as "Mom says all apples taste delicious in pies" and, by not discarding the less-than-perfect ones, they have sufficient for two pies.

From The Imperfect Garden by Melissa Assaly, illus. by April dela Noche Milne

When the growing season has passed and Jay and his mom go to the grocery store, he misses the variety of shapes they produced in their own garden.

Where are the two-legged carrots, the twirly-whirly cucumbers, and the funny-faced apples? Don't grownups know they all taste the same? Even better, maybe?

Fortunately, the imperfect ones are still available and at a reduced cost.

Melissa Assaly's The Imperfect Garden will raise interesting discussions about gardening with children but also about food wastage. She shares notes about both, providing tips for planting with children but also about how much food is wasted when so many go hungry.  In her inviting story about a mother and child growing their own food and appreciating whatever grows, however it grows, Melissa Assaly will make us all think about why we think some foods are considered "perfect" when they are still very edible and tasty, and how we can change that attitude with our children. Jay's pleasure in finding heart-shaped kiwis and other oddities suggests that we've learned and taught our children poorly when they think that only one kind is the right kind.

I like April dela Noche's earthy illustrations, from her misshapen fruits and vegetables to her characters' clothing to a yard that is less manicured and more wild and real. At this time of year, it's lovely to see what will be and can be and to feel the warmth and green of the natural world growing, producing and feeding. In The Imperfect Garden, everything is perfect.

From The Imperfect Garden by Melissa Assaly, illus. by April dela Noche Milne