A Year in Our New Garden

K-Gr 3—Anna and Benjamin move with their parents to a new house in the middle of a busy city. The wonder of this house is that it includes a large garden among the tall apartment buildings. Muller explores the design and planting of this city garden through the eyes of the children. This title can be read to younger kids as the story of a family creating a garden. Older readers will appreciate in-depth explanations about the actual components needed to design a real garden. The narrative follows the family as they move from planning to planting to harvest. Multiple illustrations cover each page. Larger drawings that show the garden as a whole are combined with small framed and unframed insets that highlight specific details. The beautifully detailed paintings invite close inspection as the seasons change and the children play, picnic, plant, harvest, and enjoy the garden's wildlife. Smaller, intricate depictions are added throughout and include labeled gardening tools, close-ups of insects and birds, and cut-away views of plant growth above and below the ground and even demonstrate how to make Anna's crown of leaves and flowers. Helpful gardening tips, delicious recipes, and other related information accompany this tale and will surely inspire readers to create their own wonderful gardens. A fine companion to Muller's How Does My Garden Grow?? and A Year Around the Great Oak, it continues her tradition of providing an engaging story that also seamlessly integrates facts about the natural world.