Maisy’s Green Thumb

Maisy Grows a Garden: A Maisy First Science Book by Lucy Cousins; Candlewick Press, $14.99; ages 3 and up) is reviewed today by Rita Zobayan.

Masiy, Maisy, how does your garden grow? Maisy is busy getting ready to grow vegetables and flowers, and we get to help! We join Maisy and her pal Panda as they plant a garden and complete each step: digging, planting, tending, first growth, weeding, picking, and enjoying.

Each pair of pages in this bright and colorful book includes target words with illustrations (pitchfork, rake, shovel for digging; seedlings, roots, ladybug for first growth). Simple sentences and accompanying illustrations describe the scenes. For example, here is Maisy weeding the garden: It’s not only vegetables that grow in the garden. Weeds grow there, too. Maisy pulls the weeds out so they don’t crowd the vegetables!

The highlight of this sturdy book is the interactive tabs for each section. Help Maisy dig the soil. Pull the tab and see Maisy plant carrot seeds. Watch the vegetables sprout, and my-oh-my, wait until your child sees the flowers bloom! Illustrated in Lucy Cousins’ signature style, Maisy Grows a Garden: A Maisy First Science Book is a fun introduction to help little hands develop green thumbs!