MY GARDEN

A little girl enjoys helping her mother in her garden, but she knows if she had a garden, it would be something else entirely: no weeds, ever-blooming multicolored flowers with hues she can change with just a thought, chocolate rabbits instead of pests and so on. “If I planted seashells, I’d grow seashells. / ... / Sometimes in my garden, good, unusual things would just pop up—buttons, and umbrellas and rusty old keys.” With a neat, square trim and sunny, pastel palette, this intimate exploration of a child’s burgeoning imagination hits every note right. Sketching his outlines with broad, blue ink strokes, Henkes modulates his watercolors beautifully from bright daylight to dreamy firefly-light. Before going in for bed, she plants a seashell—and the artist validates every child’s imagination with his final image. Just plain perfect. (Picture book. 3-7)