cover image Guerilla Green: An Urban Gardening Survival Guide

Guerilla Green: An Urban Gardening Survival Guide

Cookie Kalkair and Ophélie Damblé, illus. by Cookie Kalkair, trans. from the French by Edward Gauvin. BOOM! Box, $16.99 (176p) ISBN 978-1-68415-663-4

This irreverent nonfiction guide by blogger Damblé and comics journalist Kalkair proposes nothing less than a revolution in biodiversity, exhorting budding gardeners to cultivate vegetables and flowers all around: “Going Green Guerilla means veggifying the city without asking permission. So you have to go for somewhere unexpected, not a community garden: we’re here to vandalize!” In Kalkair’s chapter headings, tulips sprout through brass knuckles and a hand grenade nestles in a cabbage. A combatant spirit prevails; since “seeds are a Green Guerilla’s main ammo,” the authors share a recipe for clay-and-compost “seed bombs.” Sod-smeared, pale-skinned Ophélie, 30—clad in T-shirts with slogans like “Terrarist Turfvivor”—leads the charge, introducing fellow guerillas and hashtags pertinent to France, the U.K., and the U.S. Petty stumbles undermine the gardeners’ groove; a gripe about a book cover, an accusation that chicken nuggets do not contain meat, and Ophélie’s millennial grousing about “our kids... playing Fortnite” threaten to alienate younger readers. More fertile digressions include forays into landscaping, victory gardens, permaculture, and nature therapy. While this resource at times feels overstuffed, its ventures to imagine a green future will inspire. Ages 14–up. [em](Apr.) [/em]