We were very lucky to receive a copy of this gorgeous new children’s story book The Garden of The Year in the post yesterday after winning a competition on the fabulous blog Sparkles and Stretchmarks. Of course Cody (age 3 years) got stuck straight into it. He loves story time and this book was a delight.
‘The Garden Of The Year’ is the first in the series of Fred’s Shed books written by self-published author Mark Johnson and illustrated by Louise Dunford. The Author wrote these stories based on his memoirs of spending time with his grandfathers who were both keen gardeners and both named Frederick!
The story is about a young girl who befriends the tools in her Grandfather’s shed and together they help Grandpa Fred get his garden prepared for the Garden Competition. The illustrations are lovely and there is a little mouse who appears on most pages which Cody enjoyed searching for. My only slight criticism of the whole book is that the mouse is missing from one or to pages which Cody found really frustrating as he loved finding it on each page.
The story has a lovely rhyming rhythm to it which makes it really easy to read and helps keep the child’s focus. It is also a great way of talking about how things grow and Cody enjoyed counting the carrots shown growing on one of the pages. This book is perfect for getting children interested in gardening and growing their own fruit and vegetables. If you are planning to set up your own little allotment then your kids will love this book!
We love this book and have read it over and over since it arrived. Cody gives it a big thumbs up!
You can purchase you own copy of this lovely book for your children on Amazon using the following link: Garden Of The Year
Disclaimer: The author Mark Johnson has had no involvement in this review. All photos, words and opinions are that of my own 🙂
