How to Grow a Garden by Frances Tophill and Charlotte Ager

2025   

 

Adult, fluent reader, ages 9 -99+, ages 7-11, Tophill Frances, Ager Charlotte, rewilding, environment, picture book, non-fiction, horticulture,   

This book would make an excellent contribution to a primary school library and interest wouldn’t be restricted to those who are passionate about the environment. It is aspirational.   

 A contents page near the beginning of the book identifies sections: Flowers and Herbs, Trees, Hedges and Edges, Grass, Fruit and Veg, Water, Exotic Plants and Further Resources.

Each double spread shows pictures of the topics discussed and provides bite-sized information.

At the end of each section there are suggestions about what you can do in each season.

The book opens with an introduction about how the text works. It invites the reader to join in an interesting journey.

Throughout the text there are many activities suggested to the reader.

There is a glossary and an index at the end of the book.

This works like a standard picture book in that the illustrations give additional information.  For the most part it uses a plain sans serif font with simple ‘a’s and ‘g’s. There are a few lines here and there in a font that looks like handwriting.

The book is in a quite a large format.    

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 Note, this is an affiliate link and a small portion of what you pay, at no extra cost to you,  may go to Bridge House Publishing.  

 

Timothy Crumble Explores Bodnant Garden by Anne Forrest (illustrated by Laura Stenhouse)

 

2021 

fluent reader, upper primary, Key Stage 2, ages 7-9, fairy story, activity book, Bodnant Garden, Forrest Anne, Stenhouse Laura, environment,   

Timothy Crumble’s family have an annual ticket to Bodnant Garden so he regularly visits, sometimes accompanied by his cousins.

The stories introduce the child to the garden itself and feature the redwood trees, the laburnum arch, the huge oak tree and some of the people who work there.  There are some subtle references to climate change and other environmental concerns. There is also some fantasy as the children spot fairies and trolls in the grounds. The text encourages the reader to exercise their imagination in the garden.

Each chapter ends with an activity page for readers to supply their own picture and write about their experiences at the garden.

Anne Forrest has worked with the National Trust on putting this book together. The stories have been read out to visiting children at Bodnant Garden.  

There are bios of Anne Forrest and Laura Stenhouse at the back of the book.

The test is 101 pages long and uses blocked text but with a large plain font.    

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Note, this is an affiliate link and a small portion of what you pay, at no extra cost to you,  may go to Bridge House Publishing.  

 

 

The Book of Chaos by Jessica Renwick

2023 

Jessica Nuthatch lives with her aunt and cousin after her parents and her uncle were killed.  Jessica and her Aunt Moira both have magic but have to keep it hidden.

A strange book appears on Jessica’s bookshelf. It swallows her cousin and Jessica manages to jump into it and follow him. She finds herself in the world of Starfell, a magical place where she can freely use her powers.

She is received kindly by everyone there and eventually finds out what has happened to her cousin Tommy.  He and many other people have been trapped by the powerful witch Endora in picture frames. Endora is actually Jessica’s great-grandmother.

Jessica manages to free a knight from his picture frame and he in turn helps her to trap Endroa herself in a frame. Tommy is released and Jessica and Tommy are reunited with Aunt Moira who has been summoned by the Fey Witch, Fedilmed Coot.

Many readers may be glad to know that Fedilmed, although male, is a witch and he lives happily with this husband Algar.

The paperback is 258 pages long and the language is about reading age 9.     

At the end of the book there is a glossary of names and terms, information about the author, an invitation to find out more about how Starfell works and an excerpt from the second book in the series.       

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The Taexali Game by Nancy Jardine

2019 

Twins Brian and Fianna, and their friend Aron take part in the twins’ father’s experiment.  We are talking about the most sophisticated of computer games.

They are propelled back to the AD250, the time when the Celts are invaded by the Romans under the Emporer Severus. Aran knows his history well and is perceived by both the Celts and the Romans as some sort to soothsayer.

The three young people take quite a few risks. There is an ‘ejector seat’ and they can all finish the game if they agree.

They keep going and find out a lot about the time they are visiting. Fianna begins to take an interest in all of the handsome young men she encounters. She also discovers that her twin brother is far more caring than she’d thought.

They all learn a new respect for Callum, the twins’ father and also the computer expert.

The video game here is quite sophisticated not just because it takes them to a past that feels very realistic. It is also way ahead of what we know already. Or perhaps  Nancy Jardine has recognised something that is  just around the corner?

The text is 250 pages long. I read the book on Kindle so the font may vary. The text is blocked.

There is information about the author and her research at the end of the book.  

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The Ice Children by M. G. Leonard, illustrated by Penny Neville-Lee

 

2023 

Bianca and her younger brother Finn argue over a glittery book that Finn has taken from the library. Then five year old Finn is found frozen in a local park. Gradually more and more children turn up frozen in the park.

Bianca realises it is to do with the strange book which it turns our never was in the library catalogue.  Each frozen child has a copy of the book.  She finds the factory where the books are made and meets the strange team of twins Pitter and Patter, Jack (Frost) and Quilo who disguise themselves as one grown-up man.  

Bianca manages to obtain a copy of the book; she too is frozen and is taken to the land of Winterton. Here she meets the Snow Queen who had taken a liking to her brother. Yes, here are echoes of the Hans Christian Anderesen story and also of the Narnia chronicles. And just as in Andresen’s story, the ice children have a shard in their hearts.

Winterton is a magical place with fairground rides, hot chocolate fountains and marshmallows that grow on trees.    

The Snow Queen is dying because of climate change.  Winter is disappearing. And if something doesn’t happen to reverse the warming of the planet all of the children with the splinters in their hearts will die at the time of the winter solstice. They will know nothing of it but will continue to live happily in Winterton.

Bianca finds another way and shows the grown-ups what they must do. The children are unfrozen and returned to their families, all determined to fight climate change and save winter and the Snow Queen

There are some monochrome pencil illustrations throughout.

There is a little information about both the author and the illustrator at the end of the book.  

The text is quite dense, blocked and in a serif font with difficult ‘a’s and ‘g’s.  It is double-spaced. 

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Note, this is an affiliate link and a small portion of what you pay, at no extra cost to you,  may go to Bridge House Publishing. 

 

Wilding by Isabella Tree and Angela Harding

 

2024 

I hesitated to put his book on this site even though it is marketed as a children’s book and indeed I purchased it as such. In fact, anyway, it wouldn’t be out of place in a primary or secondary school library though interest in it would be restricted to those who are passionate about the environment.   

Primarily, though, I would define this as a picture book for adults – a rather odd concept in the UK though this is a strong genre in France and Belgium and other French-speaking countries.  The voice here is of one adult speaking to another. But children can often understand adults.

Isabella Tree and her husband Charles decided to rewild their 3,500 acre farm in West Sussex over twenty years ago.

The book opens with a note form the illustrator about her experience of working at Knepp.  After a brief introduction by Isabella Tree we are given an outline history of the farm including the all import years form 2000 up to the present day.

There is a lot of information about what happened and all of this is illustrated in detail.  Pictures really give us more detail about processes and indeed what everything looks like.  So, as in a picture book for pre-schoolers the pictures add to the information in the text, expect that this is non-fiction. The last few pages contain ideas for what we can do in our own environment.

There is a useful glossary at the end and then a list of further resources. This would be very helpful for a student who is conducting a project about rewilding.   

The book, in hard back, and large format is 96 pages long.  It uses a serif font but the text is ragged right. Each section of text is short but packed with information.

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