THE WIND’S GARDEN

Just in time for spring, Roberts (A Mouse Told His Mother, 1997, etc.) shows young readers that nature's beauty can be appreciated for both its tamed and wild sides. Inside the white picket fence a woman, accompanied by her dog, plants seeds in a freshly dug patch of earth, while outside the fence the wind blows all kinds of seeds hither and yon. While the domestic garden is watered and weeded by the woman, nature's garden gets rain but is weeded not at all. Flowers grow in tidy rows in the woman's garden, but nature's garden grows until it is wild and bright with plants and flowers in lush chaos. In direct, short sentences the text describes with brevity what the artwork shows in tantalizing brilliance. It is Greenberg's (On My Street, not reviewed) illustrations that could inspire the reader to become a young gardener. Each page shows thickly painted flora in two-dimensional, vivid glory. The author's note contains care instructions and a short list of flowers that can be grown in a first-timer's garden. Parents beware; it also contains a tip on how youngsters can help the wind by blowing dandelion seeds. (Picture book. 3-7)