A young girl is so enthusiastic about the window garden she and her father are going to plant that she carries "the garden" home from the store. The miniature garden is shown in the cart, on the checkout stand, in its box riding home on the bus, and on the girl's lap as she rests outside her apartment door. It's also viewed in the assembling process and as a finished garden.

The pictures are delightful with various colors and much character. The finished garden is seen from different perspectives - up close right after planting, looking down at it through the window, sideways from the next window over, and from the street far below. The garden gives pleasure to all who see it - at the store, on the way home, in the neighborhood, by the family, and even the cat.

This is a book I would pick to read with children again and again. The pictures could stand alone. There are wonderful details to discover with closer examination. The text is rhyming and conveys the excitement and pure joy of the occasion. Plus there is the added bonus of a birthday connection.

I have read a few Eve Bunting books before, but they had a heavier mood. This was a wonderful surprise, and I can see now that I'm going to need to go through her many books one by one.

related-city gardening, gardens, parent and child, birthdays, surprises, flowers, window boxes, neighborhoods, community, stories in rhyme
RL=1st-2nd, all ages, read aloud to toddler-1st