BOOK REVIEW: IT’S GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE MONTH!

​Celebrations during Gardening for Wildlife Month usually involve creating wildlife gardens that highlight local plants. Today’s book recommendation is about an activist who was inspired by what gardens can do for people:

​TITLE: GRACE LEE BOGGS: GARDENS OF HOPE
AUTHOR: Songju Ma Daemicke
ILLUSTRATOR: Lin
PUBLISHER: Albert Whitman & Company
OPENING LINES:
Grace could hardly believe it when her teacher gave her a book—to keep! Grace was eight years old and had never owned a book.
The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett, was about a lonely girl—just like Grace—who found an abandoned garden. The girl tended the garden with the help of her cousin and friend. As the garden bloomed, so did they.
Grace held the book against her chest and closed her eyes. She saw a garden full of flowers, hope, and possibilities.
I could grow a garden to help people heal.

This non-fiction biography is about an activist who I had never heard of before reading this book. Grace Lee Boggs fought for equal civil, labor, women’s and environmental rights and accomplished a lot in her 100 years of life. This book highlights many of her accomplishments but focuses on her dream to build “gardens of hope”—places where people could “relate to the earth…” and heal “wounds of past discrimination.” Songju Ma Daemicke’s text is engaging, informative, and inspiring. Lin’s soft color palette of greens, blues, yellows, and oranges are the perfect choice to illustrate a garden-focused story. This book will be an excellent choice for your school or home library!
 
 
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