The Gardener by Sarah Steward & illustrated by David Small

 

The Gardener by Sarah Steward & illustrated by David Small 

• Historical Fiction

• Grades: Pre-K-Kindergarten, 1st & 2nd

• Awards: 1998 Caldecott Honor Book

Summary:

The Gardener by Sarah Steward is a book about a young girl, Lydia Grace, who leaves her mama, papa, and grandma to move in with her uncle until things at home get better. In her letters to her uncle, Lydia Grace mentions that her papa lost his job and her mama does not have any customers asking her to make dresses. Throughout the story, Lydia Grace writes letters to her grandma about how thankful she is for the seeds and bulbs she can garden with, how she taught Emma, one of her uncle’s friends/ workers, to speak Latin while learning how to knead bread, and how she’s working on her secret garden which she hopes can make her uncle finally smile. At the end of the story, Lydia Grace’s uncle receives a letter that her papa got a new job and she can finally go home.

Evaluation:

I would use this book in my classroom because it brings history to life and it is the appropriate reading level for second-graders. The illustrations in this book are notable and it would benefit the students to see such award-winning work. The Gardener is a good example of historical fiction because it is set during the time of the Great Depression which is a real authentic setting. This book is historically accurate because many people lost their jobs during this time just like the parents in this story. The Gardener would be a great book for a unit on analyzing literary elements within a text like the importance of setting.