In the Garden

Starting with the end of winter and ending with its return, Giuliani’s engaging oversize introduction to gardening functions like a season of BBC’s Gardeners’ World—one perfectly suited to young readers. Eight colorful graphic spreads follow two siblings in black silhouette gardening through each season’s arrival (“the Beginning of Summer”) and continuation (“High Summer”). In appealingly plainspoken prose, the pages convey seasonal characteristics (“A cold wind blows”) and offer gardening tips (“In the winter, cover the soil with mulch”). Using a multitude of flaps that promote interactivity and lend an intimate sense of discovery to the text, Giuliani offers facts about flora and fauna phrased in accessible and scientific terms: in “Spring,” a magenta bean’s “seed coat or integument” folds back to reveal a “plumule or bud,” while an adjacent flap discusses dormancy and germination. One by one, other flaps (shaped like a winter squash, a ground cherry) reveal the kind of glad surprises that a garden can provide; together, the contemplative text offers a growing season’s worth of activities and cares. All that’s missing is Monty Don. Ages 8–12. (Apr.)