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)

Malaika, Carnival Queen

Written by Nadia L. Hohn

Illustrated by Irene Luxbacher

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-850-3

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

May 2023

 

Malaika, whom Nadia L. Hohn introduced us to in Malaika's Costume (and revisited with Malaika's Winter Carnival and Malaika's Surprise), is always joyous with colour and exuberance. But it's family that brings her the most happiness. In Malaika, Carnival Queen, family is no less important but there is an element of grief that is wrapped in that familial warmth.

From Malaika, Carnival Queen by Nadia L. Hohn, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

Malaika lives with her Mummy, her new father Papa Fred, her Grandma, her new sister Adèle and new baby brother. But she's dreaming of a man carrying a basket of fruit, handing her a mango. Malaika believes it a dream about her father and her mother confirms it. Grandma gives Malaika a photo of her daddy working on a fruit farm with a message "To Malaika, my likkle one." He'd come to Canada before them to work on a farm, but he'd become ill and passed away without them.

From Malaika, Carnival Queen by Nadia L. Hohn, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

They decide it's important for Malaika to learn more about her father, so they take a trip to the farm where he'd worked, meeting some men who'd worked with him. They speak of his love for his daughter and his dream to make a carnival like back home. Malaika is invited to be the Carnival Queen for their upcoming harvest festival to which she agrees.

Malaika is ready with her carnival peacock dress, but she has a plan to make the parade extra special and ensure that "home" is at the heart of the event.

 

Malaika, Carnival Queen is an involved story but at its heart it's about family and home. Malaika has a family, but she has lost her birth father and needed to know more about him. With him showing up in her dreams, it was time to learn more. Nadia L. Hohn gives us the Malaika whom we've grown to love through her earlier books but in Malaika, Carnival Queen we are introduced to another side of her, that which has experienced loss. With Malaika's father as a migrant worker, Nadia L. Hohn opens the discussion with children about families who are separated through immigration, particularly because of farm work. Though the story of migrant farm workers is one of hardships, that's not the story that Malaika, as the daughter of one, needed to hear. She needed to connect with her father through his coworkers and through a carnival, and Nadia L. Hohn does that for the little girl. 

From Malaika, Carnival Queen by Nadia L. Hohn, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

That connection of family and place comes through Malaika's creation of a carnival flag of home. It's a banner of colour and heart and memory, and all those are depicted in Irene Luxbacher's illustrations. The artwork, created in gouache, soft pastels and found papers, gives the story both a softness of purpose and a quilting of connection. Those media are perfect for a story of loss and finding connection but also making connection. Irene Luxbacher, who has illustrated all four of the Malaika books, gives the colour and the boldness of a child with high spirits, but she also gives us tenderness for the loss felt by Malaika and others as well as a collage-feel that comes from kinship.

As Malaika grows older, Nadia L. Hohn shows us more sides to the little girl and her family, but she always keeps her as one with sensitivity. She may be a carnival queen but she's also a daughter, a granddaughter, a sister, and a friend, all which make her truly impressive and inclusive.

• • • • • • •

Malaika's Costume (2016)

Malaika's Winter Carnival (2017)

Malaika's Surprise (2021)

Malaika, Carnival Queen (2023)