The Gardener

This book is about a girs named Lydia who lived in the 1930's. When her family hits hard times, she does to live in the city with her Uncle Jim. Lydia thinks the city is dull and ugly. One thing she does love is gardening. Uncle Jim, who owns a bakery, never smiles. Lydia decides to make him a surprise so he can smile.

While this book is enjoyable, it probably is not our most favorite book of all times because of the format of the book. Throughout the story Lydia talks to the readers through letters written to her family back ome. While this is a creative way to tell the story, without the illustrations it would have been hard to follow. This is the first book written like this that we have ever read. We enjoyed the way the book ended because it was very positive. All of the characters ended up happy.

We would recommend this book to late elementary and early middle school students. This book has a positive message about doing nice things for each other. It also has a good illustrator.