A Gardener's Alphabet

By Mary Azarian

Book Overview

Revealing the variety of life underground, the bright comfort of a greenhouse on a winter's day, or the anticipation of starting seeds indoors in early spring, this striking alphabet book celebrates the simple joys of gardening. Without neglecting the frustrations--the nibbling critters and the toil--or wry, humorous moments spent in the garden. Mary Azarian's spare words and lovely woodcuts capture the essence of turning a bare plot of ground into fragrant flowers and lush vegetables and trees. Her depictions of insects, manure, and compost piles are as delightful as her fountains, pumpkins, and Queen Anne's lace. Whether we are young or old, our gardens both exhaust and renew us. They are our source of magic and wonder and perhaps our best way to live closer to the land and to the rhythm of the seasons.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0618548815
• ISBN13: 9780618548811
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 8.8" x 10.5"
• Age Range: 4 to 7 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 2

Customer Reviews

My children learned he alphabet with this book!

Mary Azarian's woodcut prints are so beautiful, dreamy, and detailed. My children would stare at them for hours and I would also. We removed the pages of this book (which now could be copied for home use) and tacked them on the wall where they easily learned their alphabet in a very pleasant way.

Lovely book, but...

This is a lovely book. The illustrations are beautifully done, the vocabulary is carefully chosen - and the illustrations make very clear the meaning of unusual words like "xeriscape", but there's not much you can do for x anyway. But, it's true. Every person in this book is white, and it really is a little weird. I don't live anywhere where I can consistently expect the people I meet to be white, so it would never occur to me to draw a whole book full of people of just that one race. I wonder where the author lives that it wouldn't occur to her to draw a more normal sample of the population. It's not a bad book, it's just - that sort of thing is very obvious, and kinda annoying.

Illustrations match a Garden's Beauty

Mary Azarian was inspired by her own garden and has used the perfect form of illustration - woodcuts - to bring to life the alphabet of a garden. The perspecives range from above and below the ground and show not only the joys but also hardships that come from creating a garden.The simple words and strong visuals will be great for children learning about the natural world, but is also a beautiful gift for the gardener or nature lover in your life.