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A young girl plants a garden in a deceptively unpretentious story about making the best of what you have. At the end of May, Tiffany and her mother move to a trailer right in the middle of a lonely field. Mom has a part-time job and Tiffany stays home alone with strict orders not to go outside. One evening, while taking out the garbage she sees some green shoots near the trash can. She replants them along the driveway, hoping for trees or flowers. A friendly postman, Bob, squashes that hope, telling her that they are melons, tomatoes, and potatoes, but brings her a little tray of ``leftover'' marigolds, pansies, and petunias to dress up her garden. At the end of the summer, Tiffany, her mother, and Bob celebrate the first harvest with B.L.T.s. There's nothing showy about Perkin's first children's book. The watercolor illustrations exude straightforward middle America, underplaying the trailer's boxy shape and the flat expanse of land on which it sits. The story unfolds without flourishes. Yet it is a book to read, share, and treasure, both for its gentle, satisfying lessons and the way it doesn't insist on them. (Picture book. 5-7)