'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Wednesday 21 September 2011

Review: Kids in the Garden

This gorgeous, multipurpose book ticks all the boxes for me, as a reviewer, an author, an editor and a mum. Oh - and also as a lover of good book design.

Incorporating gardening, craft and cooking, author and gardening ΓΌber talent, Mary Moody, has compiled a luscious tome, along with the talents of the team behind ACP Books/AWW, that will delight both kids and adults.

Starting with an overview of the equipment and clothing required to garden, Kids in the Garden incorporates more than just how to sprout a sunflower seed.

The author talks of encouraging birds into the garden, keeping chooks, caring for tools, composting, cutting, seedlings, worms - basically, the whole kit and caboodle on this fabulous and creative topic for children, that not only encourages them outdoors and into nature, but truly aids and abets a wonderful appreciation of the land and its vital role in our lives.

Gorgeously designed and laid out with an array of stunning, kid-packed photographs and design elements, readers will soak up the opportunity to grow their own tomatoes and salad greens, rosemary, herbs and cucumbers, radishes, flowers and a patch bursting with strawberries.

But what truly rounds out this lovely book is the addition of recipes and craft projects that beautifully complement the garden harvest spoils - how to make lavender sachets, minted melon salad, mushroom and spinach tarts... even how to paint pots and make a scarecrow. All projects are not only simple and easy for kids to create, they most pleasantly miss the twee mark, and head straight into delicious and gorgeous.

With so much of our children's lives relegated to the virtual world of a backlit television or computer screen, adults will wholeheartedly embrace a book like Kids in the Garden... and children will be sporting green thumbs and happy smiles in no time.

Title: Kids in the Garden
Author: Mary Moody and the Australian Women's Weekly
Publisher: ACP Books, $29.95
Publication Date: 1 September 2011
ISBN: 9781742451305
Format: Soft cover
For ages: 5+
Type: Non Fiction