City Green

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This book is about a little girl who comes up with a great idea for a vacant lot in her neighbor. This book follows this girls story and the how the community comes together for this great project.

Age: 5+
Source:The book was used for strategy instruction: Visualizing for Adv Lang and Literacy Methods Class at Pierce College

After the city demolishes a building on her block, one girl sets into motion a plan to turn the block into a community garden. It is book of warm images of gardens and community.
Ages: 4-8
Source: Amazon ( )

Saddened by the empty lot on her block, where a building used to stand before it was condemned and destroyed, young Marcy and her elderly neighbor Miss Rosa begin a community garden there, eventually involving everyone in the neighborhood in the project. After renting the land from the city, the would-be gardeners begin the clean-up, finding that people stop to help, and bring supplies as well. Even grouchy Old Man Hammer, who initially holds out and refuses to have any part in the new garden, eventually plants some seeds.

A wonderful exploration of the idea of communal city gardens, and reclaiming vacant lots as urban green spaces, City Green reminded me a bit of Peter Brown's The Curious Garden, which also features the theme of making cities greener. I enjoyed DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan's narrative here, I appreciated the fact that the reader is led to have greater empathy for the initially unlikable Old Man Hammer, over the course of the story, and I found the color artwork appealing. As an added bonus, the author/artist includes an afterword in which she offers some advice to young readers who might want to start a community garden in their own neighborhood. Recommended to anyone looking for hopeful stories about improving urban spaces, or about diverse communities working together. ( )

Similar to Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman, City Green is about two neighbors banding together to restore an empty lot into a community garden. Their perseverance leads to the other neighbors pitching in to help clean and plant crops in the garden. City Green emphasizes a sense of togetherness within an urban community. Overall, the book was enjoyable and it generates a great idea to form a community garden within a school for students. ( )