Hello, Garden!

In this spare board book, two doe-eyed children with light brown skin and curly dark hair spend a sunny day in their backyard garden. Their two guardians, one with dark brown skin and black curls and the other pale with a light beard, look on in the background, lending a hand or providing a sun hat as the young duo harvests and samples produce (“Crunch a green bean./ Snap a pea”) as well as assists with gardening duties (“Pick a berry./ Pull a weed”). Gently rhyming prose by Pryor emphasizes the children’s physical experiences and observations throughout the day (“Cater- pillars wiggle./ Butterflies fly./ Bees kiss daisies./ Sunflowers reach high”), while Soini’s watercolor illustrations offer rich greenery, cutaway side views of the ground featuring root systems, and close-ups of smiling insects and creatures. A garden journey to engage the senses, ideal for the youngest readers. Ages up to 6. (May)