All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!” his lamb baas back. Joining a bumper crop of gardening titles, this suffices without standing out.Ī succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.Ī grumpy bull says, “DADA!” his calf moos back. As the group prepares to gather at the table for a big salad, veggies, and luscious strawberries, Scanlon closes with lines of metaphor and gratitude: “Garden growing like a child, / rosy, / leggy, / fresh, and wild- // Wild in this muddy mess, / garden, thank you….

Outfits change throughout, adding interest, and readers can spot a toy garden gnome that appears frequently. Though many skin tones are represented among the seven gardeners, facial features are rudimentary: black dots for eyes, red triangular noses, black crescents and triangles for mouths.

Children work, but the littlest two primarily play-with small vehicles, water, mud, and the garden’s critters. Stylized plants, some identifiable, most not, populate the plots rather primly, with lots of soil in between only the tomatoes vine and twine with genuine exuberance as days pass. Shin’s flat, minimalist paintings depict four square raised beds with a red picnic table at their center. Scanlon’s spare, rhyming text reads like an upbeat playground chant: “Garden ready, / garden new // Garden so much / work to do!” Verses cheerfully acknowledge the garden’s denizens-humans, flora, and fauna-as well as the chores and patience that yield the harvest. A diverse, intergenerational community works together in an urban garden.

Liz garton scanlon books