Grow

I’m a sucker for a community garden story, and Grow is an adorable rendition of one. A young girl sees an abandoned lot in her city and decides to plant a packet of seeds there. Slowly, more people catch on and join her. In a community effort, the lot is transformed into a usable and beautiful space in the community for everyone to gather!
The prose in this book is simple and beautiful, and the illustrations perfectly match the text. I actually really love the serene smile on the main character’s face for the entire story. She seems to be happy working by herself, and happy to be joined by others. When the project is completed, she’s surrounded by neighbors that she’s inspired to help create the garden. It’s a lovely example of how a person of any age can inspire creative action in their community, and be the catalyst for cooperation to create beauty that is for the public, just for the sake of beauty. There aren’t any profits to be made or gatekeeping of certain folks out of the space, it was created for everyone happily and for the love of spending time outdoors.
This book was kindly sent by Amicus Publishing, but all opinions are my own!